


You get to choose how this bandori death game pans out

by Zinthezinner



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Choose Your Own Adventure, F/F, Gen, Multi, Polyamory, Trans Characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2019-08-20 01:01:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 36
Words: 42,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16545800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zinthezinner/pseuds/Zinthezinner
Summary: A story about the bandori girls playing a battle royale game on a lovely little island. Will they kill each other? Who will help who? Who lives, and who dies? Do they have a hope of escaping home together?I don't know. I just write it. You guys are the ones deciding these things with polls held over on a special discord server. https://discord.gg/vUhqsgrWe have a liveposting channel on the discord! Come post your reactions as you read the story!





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> Rereading this chapter on 17/06/2019 and it's... not the best, but to be fair I started writing this pretty much when I started writing again. It gets better, I promise

Misaki felt… strange. She’d never been outside of Japan before, aside from that one party Kokoro held on a boat in what Misaki was pretty sure were international waters, so the news that they’d be touring overseas was somewhat challenging. 

“We can take one of my jets!!!”  
“Haha, actually we already booked a plane, Kokoro, so that’s not necessary.”

Misaki sighed. Probably just nerves or something.

She could hear Marina and the girls talking about a big internet following for all 5 bands internationally, even though they hadn’t been to the biggest gigs in Japan yet or anything like that. Ah, the internet makes things strange.

“Hey Misaki! Michelle’s coming with us, right?”

Misaki did not want to have to wear Michelle through customs or on a plane.

She had to think fast.

“I think I remember her saying she’s scared of planes, so she probably has to be undisturbed and asleep if she does come. Something like that.”

That way Misaki could just have Michelle in with the rest of the luggage and pretend like she’s in a different class section of the plane.

“Which class are we in, Marina?” Misaki asked.  
“I’m afraid we couldn’t get all of you into first class, but we did get you into premium economy class, so it’s not too bad!”  
“Can Michelle be in a different class from the rest of us? I feel like she doesn’t want to be disturbed.” Misaki says, with a quarter-assed wink.  
“Of course! I’ll put her into business class so she can be alone.” Marina said with a wink so big it was almost audible.

“Oh! Before I forget, all of you are underage, so I’m going to have to get your parents and guardians to sign some permission slips. Everything’s paid for, you’ll just need to bring your own gear.”  
“This is kinda like that Deserted Island Idol Survivor thing we did a while back, huh?”  
“Pretty much, yeah!”  
“Boppin’! Oooooh, are we going hiking too??!?”  
“Yup! I thought you girls might enjoy a little trip around a small island.”  
“Does everyone have gear for that sort of thing?”

A few “No”s from here and there is all it took for Kokoro to wonder why on earth they didn’t and then invite everyone on a shopping trip to look for suitable attire, and put smiles onto their faces!

“Ah, Marina, will we need snow gear?”  
“No, it’s summer in the southern hemisphere right now, and even in winter not many places down there get much snow.”  
“I see!”

* * *

Control switch to Hina

* * *

The plane ride was busy, but ultimately uneventful. Kaoru-kun passed out, and Hagumi and Kokoro weren’t allowed to go visit Michelle, but apart from that nothing really happened. The island, though? The island was zappin’.

They’d played a few gigs in several spots in Perth, Western Australia before setting off, so it wasn’t odd when Marina told them they’d be getting a relaxing island getaway from the music.

They were approaching it by boat. It wasn’t one of the main islands, and it had taken them over two days of cruisin’ to get there.

Hina and Kokoro were doing the titanic pose at the bow of the ship for the umpteenth time when the island came into view. This time it was Hina’s turn to be flying, and she was t-posing with Kokoro’s arms around her. Hina’s eyes were closed, but Kokoro’s weren’t.

Nobody would shut up about the mountains or the shell-laden sand or the colourful birds flying overhead until they had all completely disembarked, at which moment they were surrounded by scary people with guns. 

Marina didn’t seem bothered by these people, but Kanon-chan pushed past them and ran.

The soldiers pointed their guns at her, but Marina waved them off it.

“Let her run, she’ll just get lost anyway-”

Marina felt a breeze as Hina started to sprint past her after Kanon. 

“HINA! Just a second please! Here, take a map and compass with you.”

Hina skidded to a stop, gracefully accepted the map and compass, and then leapt into a sprint again, with only her hand luggage in tow.

“KANOOOOOOOON!! KANON-CHAAAAN! COME BACK!!!”

A distant “Fueeeeee” was heard.

* * *

The discord decided to switch control to a non-Kanon member of HHW, Kaoru

* * *

Before Kaoru could react to two of her kittens running off, Marina cleared her throat and spoke to the leftovers.

“ATTENTION GIRLS!! Welcome to the island, your new home! Not your forever home, you understand. You can leave if you win the game!”  
“We’re playing a game?”  
“Indeed you are! The aim of the game is to be the last one left alive.”  
“ALIVE??!?”  
“Yup! Now, whether this means killing your competitors or simply outliving them is up to you, but only one of you can win!”  
“Why are you making us do this? Is this real?”  
“Of course it’s real! Wave to the cameras, girls!”

Marina gestured to a handful of cameras trained on them, which the remainder of Pastel*Palettes waved to automatically. They caught themselves after a moment, embarrassed at how they’d been trained for publicity. Especially Kaoru’s princess, Chisato, who had been taught practically from birth to face the screens with grace.

“Welcome to television! I have cameras set up all over the island, so we can see and hear everything you do!”

Kaoru heard the blades of a helicopter overhead, and set her gaze towards the heavens to spot it.

“Luckily for you guys, you didn’t run off. Now you get what everyone was supposed to start with! For your patience, you have received:  
1 large backpack  
1 food guide manual, including what’s best to eat and how best to prepare it  
1 water bottle with a filter  
3 days worth of rations, including hardtack, bread, and jerky  
1 anodized titanium knife, see how it’s rainbow-coloured? So pretty!  
1 lighter  
1 50ft length of rope, tied onto the side of the backpack here  
1 sheet of canvas material  
1 map of the island  
1 compass  
1 small notebook  
2 pens, one red, one blue.”  
“That’s all we get? But what about our luggage? Does it just stay here?”  
“That’s what the next portion is about! You girls have 10 minutes to sort whatever you need from your luggage into your big backpacks here, unless of course you want to lug your suitcases around the island with you. After the ten minutes are up, you must leave this area behind, each of you leaving at 10 minute intervals. After the last girl has left, this area is out of bounds for 24 hours, after which you may return. Don’t return before the 24 hours is up, though, you will be shot!”

The crying of her little kittens pained Kaoru greatly.

“There are loudspeakers all over the island, through which you will hear my announcements! Every twelve hours, at 7pm and 7am, I will announce who has died since the last update, as well as anything else relevant, such as restricted areas and special events.”

Kaoru looked around her to the faces of her bandmates. Hagumi was crying, Kanon was gone, Michelle was nowhere to be seen, Misaki was no doubt deep in thought, and Kokoro was frowning. Ah, how fleeting happiness be.

“Be wary of the traps on the island. They aren’t deadly, not immediately, but they are a great inconvenience! Some may be guarding supply caches, though, so do keep an eye out for those, too! Oh, and on the topic of supplies, don’t forget that you’re being cheered on! We have given our audience the ability to send in care packages for you, which we will let through occasionally. You are more likely to receive a care package if you are responsible for the death of another girl!”

Kaoru eyed her suitcase.

“I think that’s everything I need to mention. Any questions?”  
“Are we allowed to team up?”  
“Of course! Just be aware that the more of you there are, the more likely it is that there’s a traitor in your midst.”  
“Can you please just let us go? We won’t tell anyone!”  
“Now now, after all the trouble it took to set this up? I think not.”  
“You’ll go to jail for this!”  
“You think I didn’t know to blur myself out and alter my voice in the recordings?”  
“MARINA MARINA MARINA MARINA MARIN-”  
“YOU’RE BEING BLEEPED OUT, KASUMI. You’re not achieving anything. Now, I think that’s quite enough of that. Your ten minutes start now!”


	2. Catching up

Kanon stopped screaming long enough to hear a voice coming through the dense bush of eucalyptus trees. Who was that? Were they coming to kill her?

“KANOOOON!! IT’S HINA, PLEASE STOP RUNNING!”

Kanon was hopelessly lost, and just as she thought it couldn’t get any worse, a trap sprang on her and she was dangling upside-down by the ankle.

“FUEEE! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!!”  
“KANON! I’M ALMOST THERE!”  
“I’M UPSIDE-DOWN PLEASE HELP!!”  
“I’M ON MY WAY!”

Kanon kept her eyes closed until she heard footsteps jogging towards her. She opened one eye, and found that it was indeed Hina of Pastel*Palettes who had been chasing after her.

“I heard the announcement. Please don’t kill me!”  
“I’m not here to kill you, silly. I’m here to take you back to the starting area so we can get ready and like, not die and stuff!”  
“If you’re sure…”

* * *

The discord rolled a d20 with a +3 modifier and a DC of 15. They rolled a 15.

* * *

Hina started to climb the tree. Kanon was about 80cm above the ground, dangling by her ankle. Hina hoisted herself up onto a lower branch and scaled the eucalyptus.

“I’m gonna let you down now, try to not hurt yourself when you fall!”  
“O-okay.”

Hina loosened and untied the sturdy knot holding the rope to the branch, and Kanon dropped to the ground. She landed on her back, a bit sore, but ultimately unharmed. Hina slid down carrying the rope and offered a hand.

“We’ve gotta go, we’re wasting valuable prep time!”  
“We can’t run, what if we get trapped again?”  
“I’ll keep an eye out and we’ll just jog, ok? I think we’ve been running for maybe two minutes, so that’ll leave us five-ish minutes to pack.” Hina said, jogging with Kanon’s hand in hers.  
“What do we need to pack?”  
“Well we’ll probably need bathers, snacks-”  
“Will we need a towel?”  
“I’ve heard that towels are useful, so yeah! Let’s see, what else… Undies! Undies and socks.”  
“The hiking clothes Kokoro got us, too. Do you have any panadol or band-aids in your suitcases, Hina-chan?”  
“Nope! Didn’t think we’d need them. Sister probably has ‘em though.”  
“Did you bring many lollies?”  
“Yeah!! I love lollies~ Do you?”  
“Yeah! I love them too… I brought plenty of sweets, so hopefully that’s ok.”  
“Can I stick with you? Please? I get it if you don’t want me around, but I wanna become friends! Chisato can come too. She’s your girlfriend, right?”  
“She is, yeah. I think… I think I’d like that. Thank you for saving me. Why did you come after me? You don’t really know me that well.”  
“Instinct, I guess? I wanna keep everyone safe! I didn’t see anyone else moving to get you before Marina interrupted, either, which is very not boppin’.”  
“O-oh.”  
“It’s ok, not everyone has my reaction time. I’m sure everyone wants to see you safe! Especially in times like this.”  
“It’s so scary… I don’t wanna die, Hina.”  
“You won’t! You’re too cute to die! Actually come to think of it, you’re cute enough to join pasupare. You’re the drummer for your band, right? Maybe you and Maya can swap one day!”  
“Maybe. Are we almost there? Are you sure you know the way back?”  
“I think we’re almost there. Ah! Yes we are! Do you see the docks in the distance over there?”  
“Yes! Do you think we’re clear to run now?”  
“Probably!”  
“Wait, how are we going to find each other if we’re not supposed to leave at the same time?”  
“Ummmmm… I’m sure we’ll find each other, but I’m not sure how? We could try to meet where I found you-”  
“I don’t remember the way, and I’m um… not very good with directions.”  
“We could try marking it on the map? Ah, but I can’t read maps.”  
“Oh dear.”

The two girls arrived at the starting area panting. They were met with waves from the rest of them, who were busy packing still. Kanon and Hina grabbed backpacks from the soldiers. Kanon hurried over to her bandmates and her suitcase and started to pack the backpack with what she and Hina decided upon. She had to get Hagumi to help her really squish down her towel at the bottom of the bag, moving the more useful supplies closer to the top. Even with the help of her bandmates, she barely made up her bag before the timer went off.

“Ok girls, hands off! I see that you’ve all opted to go for the backpacks. Alrighty, let’s get this show a-rolling! First to leave is Yukina Minato. Yukina, please leave the docks!”

Kanon and the others watched as Yukina resolutely headed off past the treeline.

Next was Rinko, then Kaoru, Tsugumi, Rimi, Hagumi, Kasumi, and then Kanon.

Kanon didn’t hear the rest as she stumbled into the forest, trying to look for Kaoru and Hagumi. Now if Kanon was Hagumi, where would she have gone? Would she have gone towards the mountains, or would that be too obvious? Kaoru wouldn’t’ve gone towards the mountains though, she’s afraid of heights. 

This was hard.


	3. Guardian of the Dynamite/AyaHimaLisa Find Each Other

Moca walked casually into the wooded area, humming hey-day capriccio to herself. Maybe five minutes of aimless wandering later, she ran into a chest.

A chest with a guardian.

The guardian was Arisa, who had also just stumbled onto the scene.

“Great. It’s you.”  
“It’s Moca-chan~”  
“I take it you want whatever’s in the chest too?”  
“Naturally~ You left before me, didn’t you? Why are you this close?”  
“That’s none of your business.”  
“Wanna team up?”  
“With you?? I think not. Just let me have what’s in the chest so I can get back to my band.”  
“Oh, you met up with them already? That’s nice~”  
“Can you leave?”  
“Moca-chan wants to at least see what’s in the chest.”  
“... Fine. We’ll open it together.”

The two girls both went around to the same side of the chest and heaved it open. It contained explosives; dynamite and a detonator.

“What’re we supposed to do with this stuff?”  
“We could use it to open up an old mine shaft and look for more treasure.”  
“I… don’t think that’s going to happen.”  
“Do you still want it, or do I have to kill you for it? Ehehe~”  
“Moca, don’t even joke about that. You can have it if you want, but I’m telling everyone that you do.”  
“That’s fine~”  
“I’m… I’m going to go now.”  
“Bye bye~”

Moca jammed the dynamite and small detonator into her bag, moving some of the smaller items to the pockets on the sides to make room.

The sun glared almost directly overhead.

* * *

The discord decided to switch control to a Roselia member, Lisa

* * *

Lisa had been pacing herself walking northwards up the beach, looking for driftwood and other potentially useful bits and pieces. She had been trying to find a way to a smaller island she’d seen on the way over.

She had found some sea glass, not sharp enough to cut anything. She had found some driftwood, but nothing big or sturdy. She had found lots of shells, big ones too, but she didn’t know what to do with them. She had found plastic waste, but nothing too useful there, either.

She was finishing spooling up some fishing line that she’d picked up when she saw it.

More rope, washed up.

Thanking the gods for something so useful, she picked up the pace and jogged towards it.

Suddenly, her foot fell further than she anticipated.

* * *

The discord had a time limit to reach a certain amount of votes. They succeeded and then some.

* * *

She leaned back and fell onto the soft sand, jerking the offending foot up. Was that… another trap? She’d heard something about Kanon triggering a trap when she ran off earlier, are there really this many?

She stood back up and glared at where she had nearly fallen. Looking at it more closely, it does look like just a thin layer of sand over the top of something.

“LISAAAAAA!! HELP MEEEE!!”

...Himari? What was Himari doing here? Lisa turned around. And why was she running?

Himari looked prepared to tackle-hug her. If she didn’t do something, Himari would push them both into the trap. 

Lisa turned and ran as fast as she could towards Himari, reciprocating the tackle-hug.

“Lisa-senpaiii, it was so scary! I heard this noise behind me and it was some sort of huge animal and I had to get away from it so I ran and I ran and then I saw you and I think I’m safe now but please stay with meeeeeee~” Himari whined.  
“Alright, alright! Be careful though, you almost hugged the both of us into a trap.”  
“A trap??? Another one??? I was hoping they wouldn’t be this common.”  
“Yeah, come with me. Looks like some sort of pit trap? I almost fell into it myself ehe~”

Lisa walked with Himari clinging to her side. Lisa took her to the spot where her foot went through.

“What do we do about it?”  
“What to do indeed? Well, maybe we could get the top layer off it so it’s more obviously a trap? That way people can avoid it a little easier.”  
“That sounds good. You’re so clever, Lisa!”  
“Ahaa thanks. I’m not that clever, but thanks.”

The two worked together to continue the tear Lisa’s foot had made along the perimeter until the top sagged limply into the pit, which was around two and a half metres deep. Not enough to kill, probably, but enough to break a bone. Steep enough that you’d need help getting out, too.

If they’d both fallen in there…

Ah, but it wasn’t good to think about those things.

Luckily, the rope wasn’t over the trap. When she bent down to pick it up she was whispered to by Himari.

“Don’t look now, but there’s someTHING or someONE in the treeline watching us.”

Lisa sat down next to Himari and tied the rope alongside the other rope on her pack. It was soggy, it was thicker, and it was significantly shorter than the other rope, but she was sure it’d come in handy at some point.

“Any idea what they look like?”  
“Well… no. I saw this pink glint of eyes watching from behind a bush and that’s it.”  
“Pink? It’s probably one of the other girls then, I don’t think animals naturally come with pink eyes.”  
“They could! It’s like how they show up different when you point a light in their eyes at night?”  
“But it’s not nighttime, so it’s probably one of our friends!”  
“It’s a killing game, Lisa! What if she’s decided to try and murder us?”  
“Then it’s two against one.”  
“Wait we’re not gonna have to hurt her, are we? I don’t wanna hurt anyone.”  
“I’m sure it won’t come to that. Let’s just approach her, ok?”  
“...Alright. I trust you, Lisa.”  
“Good!”

The two girls got up and started to walk towards where Himari pointed. There was a rustling of the bush, and then nothing. 

They got closer.

“...Aya?”

Their friend didn’t respond, and didn’t even move. Poor thing must’ve been paralyzed with fear. 

“Aya…” Lisa said, poking her.  
“Oh! Hi. Didn’t see you there, ahaha.”  
“Wanna team up? You don’t look so good.”  
“Sounds fun!!”


	4. Tae's Two Rabbits/Moca, That Makes Zero Goddamn Sense

Tae and Ako were having a lunch of small jerky sandwiches together, not caring nor even acknowledging the openness of their position in the clearing. They sat on some large orange rocks as they ate and talked. Ako was telling a fascinated Tae about Neo Fantasy Online, her special interest. 

“Maybe we can play together once we’re out of here!”

As soon as Tae heard those words, she couldn’t help but think about replacing the “once” with an “if”. She couldn’t tell if Ako thought the same, and didn’t get a chance to ask.

“O-Tae! Finally I’ve found one of my own fucking bandmates.”  
“Arisa! Meet Ako, Roselia’s drummer!”  
“I know who she is, Tae. Can we talk for a bit, just you and me?”  
“Sure thing! I’ll be right back, Ako.”

Tae let Arisa guide her just out of the clearing and out of earshot.

“Do you trust her?” Arisa whispered.  
“Yeah! She’s really cool! And unlike _someone_ , she lets me pat her bunny ears as much as I want.”  
“Ugh. Tae. O-Tae. Please don’t do this to me.”  
“I can’t just abandon one of my rabbits, Arisa.”  
“She’s not your rabbit, O-Tae.”

Tae frowned.

“Don’t you dare give me puppy eyes, O-Tae.”

Tae gave her puppy eyes. Arisa blushed.

“Fine, we’ll bring her along and dump her on someone else. She has a sister, right?”  
“Think so, yeah.”  
“So we’ll just find her band or her sister and leave her with them. Also if she tries to kill us it’s ok to get her back.”  
“Arisa, are you already suggesting murder? It’s been four hours!”  
“What? No! I was saying we knock her out or handcuff her or something like that until we can shove her onto someone else.”  
“I don’t think she’d do that.”  
“Situations like this are tough, Tae. You never know who’s going to snap. I’m just saying it’s best to err on the side of caution.”

Tae sighed.

“I guess you’re right, Arisa. I hope she’s good though.”

Tae walked back to the clearing, Arisa following.

“You guys don’t trust me, do you?” Ako said, looking almost upset.  
“Wait a second, were you listening in, you little brat?”  
“I-I wasn’t! It’s just pretty obvious when you did that that that you didn’t think I was worth having around. I’m not stupid.”  
“I trust you, Ako-chan. Arisa’s just worried because I’m her girlfriend.”  
“WE- WE’RE NOT-”  
“Oh. So you guys are ok with me being here then?”  
“We’re just making sure you’re ok until we can get you back to your bandmates or sister or whoever.”  
“I… I can live with that. Thank you.”  
“Wonderful! Now I have two cute rabbits with me.”  
“I’m not your rabbit, Tae.”  
“Have you had lunch yet, Arisa?”  
“No, why do you ask?”  
“Eat a snickers.”  
“Wait you have snickers with you? No way! Can I have some?”  
“Actually I don’t have snickers. I was just-”  
“Nevermind. I’ll just have what you guys were having.”  
“We were having jerky sandwiches!”

Arisa cut her own bread with her rainbow knife. As she was making her own jerky sandwich, she spoke.

“Oh, also Moca has dynamite now.”  
“She has dynamite?! Cool!”  
“How do you know that Arisa?”  
“Because I opened the chest with her.”  
“Wait so the supply caches are actual chests? Neat!”  
“Did you get some dynamite too?”  
“O-Tae, what would we even use dynamite for?”  
“To open a mine shaft and get more treasure.”  
“Huh.”  
“Huh?”  
“That’s almost exactly what Moca said. No, I didn’t get any dynamite.”  
“Oh, speaking of updates, someone with pink hair ran away from us earlier.”  
“Good to know. So what were you two talking about before I got here?”  
“Ako’s super cool, she was talking about Neo Fantasy Online, and how we should all play it together once we’re out!”  
“If we get out.”  
“Wait, you think I’m cool?”  
“Yeah!”  
“THANK YOU!! I try.”  
“It shows. Anyway I haven’t played NFO, but I see a lot about it online. It seems alright.”  
“It’s more than alright!”

* * *

Control switch to Tomoe

* * *

The harsh sun beat through the treetops onto Tomoe’s back. It was, all things considered, a nice enough hike.

She wasn’t here to hike, though. She was here to find everyone and get home safe. First priorities were her sister and bandmates, though.

Ah. Speak of the devil.

“Ah! Tomo-chin~”  
“Hello, Moca.”  
“How’re you doing? Gotten into any fights yet?”  
“No, why do you ask?”  
“I have.”  
“WHAT?? With who, Moca?”  
“Arisa of Poppin’Party.”  
“What did you fight over?”  
“Dynamite. I won.”  
“Please tell me you didn’t already kill or injure someone. It’s not even been 5 hours yet, Moca.”  
“Well, we didn’t actually ‘fight’ physically-”  
“Oh?”  
“Or with words-”  
“Is that so?”  
“But with our minds. It was intense. I don’t think she trusts me.”  
“No kidding. Do you trust her?”  
“Nope~ She doesn’t trust me, that means she’s not trustworthy herself.”  
“Moca, that makes zero goddamn sense.”  
“Are you ignoring my dynamite, by the way?”  
“Oh yeah. Lemme see that.”

Moca put down her backpack and unzipped it.

“Moca, how did you get it this messy?”  
“It’s organized in a very Moca-chan way, trust me~”  
“Guess so.”

Moca pulled out the stereotypical red sticks of dynamite and the detonator.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding.” Tomoe said, inspecting it.  
“You doubted me?”  
“Sometimes I don’t know what to think, Moca.”  
“You love me~”  
“I do!”

Tomoe pulled Moca into a bear hug. Moca responded softly, so Tomoe amped it up. Moca took that as a challenge, and hugged harder. Tomoe upped the pressure, and so did Moca. Tomoe went all in.

“Tomoe I can’t breathe.”  
“Ah! Sorry. So uh. What were you planning on doing with that dynamite, anyway? We’re not gonna have to blow anything up, right?”  
“You never know~”  
“So any idea where the others are? Let’s see if we can remember who left first. First was… Tsugumi?”  
“First of Afterglow was, yeah.”  
“And then… Ran?”  
“Yup.”  
“So it must’ve been Himari afterwards then. Alright!”  
“Now if I was Ran, where would I go first?”  
“Probably the other side of the island, see that rocky waterfall?”  
“So that’s where our hideout will be. Nice~”  
“At least, I hope that’s where she’s going.”  
“I hope we get a cool hideout behind the waterfall~”  
“Onwards then! Let’s go! Westward ho!”  
“Aye aye, captain!”


	5. Blue-Ringed Octopi are Motherfuckers/KasuHagu Race

Kokoro had been the last one to leave, and she skipped happily down the beach.

She had been picking up and inspecting some beautiful shells, including some intact cone shells and huge mother of pearl shells. She could’ve sworn she pricked herself on one of the sharper ones, but she ignored it.

She stopped and looked curiously up at a palm tree in her way. A smile grew on her face.

She ran towards it, eager to jump up and climb it to reach the juicy coconuts at the top.

She got to the base of the tree before she heard a SNAP! 

Suddenly, she was dangling from the bent tree, caught in a net.

“Oh! Hmmmmm~”

Her hand started to itch, and then started to hurt. She tried shaking it a bit, but the pain wouldn’t go away. She wished the suits were here, they’d have some ointment or cream or something to put on it. The suits were gone, though.

She wondered what Marina could’ve done to them. Meanie Marina.

She tried to shuffle around in the net to get her water bottle out, but her arm was making it difficult. It had started to go a bit… not numb, but unresponsive. That was weird!

She did reach it after a minute or so of struggling, though. She almost threw up in her mouth after the first sip. It wasn’t that the water tasted bad, it was more that she was just feeling nauseous.

She tried pouring it onto where it hurt, and, while cool on her hot skin, it didn’t help the pain.

Maybe she should just wait it out?

* * *

Kasumi skipped around Hagumi, happy that she’d found a friend so quickly.

“Hey, Hagu, you’re still ok with us going to the mountains, right?”  
“Of course!! I kinda miss Kokoron and the others, but I wanna be with you, too, Kasumi!”  
“Awwww!”

Kasumi swept Hagumi into a hug, her bare arms wrapped around Hagumi’s shoulders. She was so happy she’d gotten to meet up with a classmate she loved!

“Hey, do you think we’ll be able to collect everyone and have a big party?”  
“I hope so!! That’d be fun!”  
“Do you wanna race me to the mountains?”  
“Kaa-kun, I think that might be too far.”  
“Then we’ll race until one of us gets tired!”  
“Ok! Yell if you lose sight of me.”  
“No, you yell if you lose sight of me! Ready steady go!”

* * *

The discord had to reach a certain amount of votes in 2 hours in order for Kasumi to notice two other people. They failed.

* * *

They’d swapped places a few times, but for the most part Hagumi was beating Kasumi.

The bushes scraped at the bare parts of Kasumi’s legs, but not enough to make her bleed.

“HAGUUU! Can we stop for a bit? I think I need a drink!”  
“Sure thing, Kaa-kun!”

The both of them reached into the side pocket that held their water bottles and drank, catching their breaths.

“Aaaaah, that was fun~”  
“Yeah! I’m tired though. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to tire ourselves out so quickly?”  
“The faster we run, the harder it’ll be to catch us! Plus, the harder we work, the easier it’ll be to get to sleep!”  
“But the more exhausted we are, the easier we’ll be to overpower once we do stop.”  
“Hagu, you can’t think like that! Everyone’s super nice! It’s not so bad here, is it?”  
“You’re probably right. I’ve gotta stay positive! Happy! Lucky! Smile! Yay!”  
“Happy! Lucky! Smile! Yay!”

Kasumi noticed Hagumi looking a bit sad, but then she smiled. It was so lovely to see her smile…

* * *

Kokoro yelled for help, but as the minutes went by, there came no reply.

Her magnificent voice was freezing up, as was the rest of her. She didn't want to die.

She could hardly move.

She dropped her water bottle, and it fell through a hole in the net to the shore below.

And then she couldn’t move at all.

All she could do was breathe. She could still see the coconuts and the palm fronds above her, see the blue cloudless sky. Her eyes started to tear up.

She could smell the salty breeze, feel it on her skin, feel it ruffle her clothes and hair.

She could hear the crashing of the waves on the sand and rocks mere metres away.

It wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t fair.

It got harder and harder to breathe. Kokoro felt dizzy, but not in a fun way.

And then she couldn’t breathe at all. As much as Kokoro loved living and wanted to stay alive, her body just couldn’t handle it.

Kokoro died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First character death on the very first day! Oh my.


	6. TsuguRimi Take a Breather/Finding Kokoro

Tsugumi looked over at Rimi.

“So who do you think we heard running earlier? I didn’t get a look at them before they were gone. They probably didn’t even see us.”  
“W-well! If I had to guess, it’d be someone athletic, someone who likes running. Running is a hobby of Tae’s, but Kasumi likes running too. Could be one of the girls from Hello, Happy World!, K-Kokoro and H-Hagumi? They're really athletic. ”  
“Kokoro and Hagumi, yeah! I like them, they’re fun. They can be a bit loud though, can’t they? Kasumi too.”  
“Yeah, which doesn’t exactly help my nerves.”  
“Anxiety too, huh?”  
“Y-yeah.”  
“Wanna sit down? There’s a log here.”  
“Thank you.”

Tsugumi and Rimi sat next to each other on the moss-covered log. It was blackened, and there were tiny flowers peeking out from between pieces of charcoal.

“I think we should’ve tried to follow them.”  
“I’m not sure we’d’ve been able to catch up, Tsugumi-chan. Is it already if I call you that?”  
“Tsugumi-chan? Sure!”

Tsugumi already missed “Tsugu”. She missed being “Tsugurific”. She hoped her bandmates were ok, wherever they were. This girl was cute, though.

“I think they would’ve been running north, north-eastish? So if we keep going to the mountains like we planned, we should meet up with them eventually. You do still want to go to the mountains, right?”  
“It’s. Well. I don’t have a better idea, and I want to stay with you, so. Yes!”

Tsugumi took a swig from her water bottle. This girl was as nervous on the outside as Tsugumi was on the inside. She didn’t want to drag her around or anything, but wandering around aimlessly was worse.

“Shall we go?” Tsugumi said, standing up and dusting herself off.  
“I just- I need a moment!”  
“Okay!”

Tsugumi waited patiently for Rimi to finish, and then helped her up. Rimi’s hands we kinda dry, and calloused in much the same way as Himari's. Tsugumi doesn’t let go of one of them, and they walk hand in hand towards the mountains.

* * *

The discord had voted a tie between Afterglow and Pastel*Palettes technically, but since two people who voted for Pastel*Palettes with the wrong emoji, Afterglow went first.

* * *

“Hey Eve-chan, wanna go to the beach?”

Eve was startled out of her thoughts.

“Eh? Why the beach?”  
“Because all the fun people hang out on the beach, like Lisa-cchi and Kokoro-chan!”  
“Hina-chan… ok!”  
“Where are we? Where’s the closest beach?”  
“You have a map, same as me.”  
“I can’t read maps, actually.”  
“Oh. Oh yeah, you said that in the TV promo we did, didn’t you? I forgot about that. Let’s see… hmmmm~”

Hina got on her tiptoes behind Eve and looked over her shoulder. Eve was excellent at reading maps with all the war history she’d consumed.

“Hey, hey Eve, can we go back to the starting area?”  
“What? Marina said we’d got shot if we did that!”  
“I meant close to the starting area, not at it! Maybe someone’s waiting for us and we missed them! What if Aya's too scared to move very far? What if Chisato thought she was being strategic and we just walked past?”  
“I thought you wanted to go to the beach?”  
“We can do both, can’t we?”  
“We could go back closer to the start via the beach I suppose. North-east!”  
“Is that what that is? So which way?”

Eve put the map away and held out her compass in front of her. 

“East!”  
“Didn’t you say north-east just before?”  
“Yeah but we need to go east to get the the beach!”  
“Ohhhhhh~”

Eve and Hina marched resolutely eastwards to the shore. Hina was fascinated by the random bits of detritus, wondering along with Eve what such pieces of plastic could’ve belonged to. 

Hina was fascinated by the shells on the beach, too, but knew not to touch them. She told Eve that she had watched a totally boppin’ doco (with Japanese subtitles) on Australian sea life back in Perth. 

“And there are these snails that go POW with the harpoon things in their mouth and they eat fish almost as big as themselves!!”  
“Oh wow! I didn’t think snails could be so impressive!”  
“Yeah!! They have enough venom to potentially kill a human, or at least make them very very sick, so if you see a shell like this one don’t touch it just in case it’s alive!”

Eve was learning a lot.

“Oh and if you see ANY big shells, you shouldn’t touch those, either!”  
“Why’s that?”  
“Because an octopus could be lurking in them and you wouldn’t even KNOW-”  
“An octopus?”  
“Yeah! They’re not very big, and they’re called Blue-Ringed Octopi, and they have strong enough venom to kill humans too!”  
“So that big mother of pearl over there..?”  
“Maybe! They hide in rock pools too, apparently. They’re super zappin’! Oh and speaking of zappin’, there are these eels-”

Eve loved hearing Hina talk about things. Anything, really. Especially since she listened to Eve when she talked about bushido and her period dramas. Some people found it boring, but Hina didn’t. If Hina was bored with something, you’d know, but she was always so engaged with Eve’s stories. It was a nice change of pace.

And speaking of a change of pace, they’d halted.

“Eve, do you see that, over in the distance?”

Eve squinted.

“Yes?”  
“It looks like something hanging from a tree, doesn’t it?”  
“Kinda, yeah!”  
“Kanon was trapped a bit like that earlier, it might be someone else! Let’s go!”

And suddenly Eve was being dragged forwards. She stumbled into a run, and soon enough they were close enough.

“Is that… Kokoro?!? KOKORO!! IT’S HINA, YOUR GIRLFRIEND! WE FOUND YOU AND WE’RE GOING TO RESCUE YOU, OK??!?”

No response. Eve was a little envious of Hina, as she had a crush on Kokoro herself. She hadn't told Hina about it yet, so there's no way she would've known, could've known, but... It still hurt.

“Maybe she’s asleep? Hopefully that wakes her up~”  
“KOKORO-CHAN!” 

Hina and Eve got even nearer, and Kokoro wasn’t moving. Hina ran up to her and poked her through the net.

“Kokoro?”  
“We’ve got to cut her out of the net!”  
“Look, she’s dropped her water bottle! Maybe she’s just thirsty.”

Eve and Hina got out their shiny knives and started cutting away the net, careful not to nick the girl trapped inside. They cut a hole big enough to slip her out of, and Hina caught her in her arms.

“H-Hina is she breathing?”

Hina’s eyes welled up.

“Hina? I know CPR, give her here-”

Eve managed to wrest the body from her bandmate and did the checks. As much as she'd like to have an excuse to finally touch Kokoro's lips with her own and be a hero, mouth-to-mouth would be of no use. She didn’t even have a pulse, she certainly wasn’t breathing.

Hina started ugly crying.

Eve started tearing up as well. This was real, and it wasn’t fair. This was very un-bushido.

Eve started to focus and center herself. Clear the mind. How had she died?

* * *

Here the discord had to reach a certain amount of votes by a certain time for Eve to be able to center herself and focus. They succeeded!

* * *

The body was stiffening, but still warm. That may just be the heat of the late spring sun, though. Kokoro’s usually happy face was frozen with her eyes open. The face itself was blue-hued, but there were no bruise marks that would show external strangulation.

Eve felt like a character right out of one of the murder mysteries, like that one medic from that one drama who was investigating a dead samurai general for signs of foul play. Signs of foul play, like traces of poisons. Poison...

Poison!

“Hina?”

Hina looked up at eve with red eyes and glimmering cheeks.

“I think she was poisoned.”

Hina looked towards the water bottle that lay in the sand nearby.

“I… I don’t think it was that. It’s too soon! Nobody would even have access to poisons like this. If I had to guess, I would say that one of those octopi or snails you were talking about is to blame. She must’ve picked up a shell somewhere or something…”

Both of them looked around, and Eve spotted a larger collection of shells a few meters from the trap. She must've dropped them before she even got to the tree.

Hina didn’t look totally convinced, but she didn’t reject it, either. Maybe she just wanted to blame someone?

Eve offered her another tissue. Hina blew into it loudly and obnoxiously, and then started crying some more.

“Can we bury her?”  
“Yeah of course!”

Eve moved to shift the corpse, but Hina stopped her.

“No, it’s too hot right now. I'm exhausted.”  
“You’re right. Ok. Come with me then, yeah? And up!”

Eve lifted her girlfriend until she was standing, hugged her tightly, and walked her and their bags back to where the gum trees grew.

“They wouldn’t be so cruel as to poison someone’s water bottle right from the get-go, right?” Hina sniffled  
“That wouldn’t be very bushido of them, and it wouldn’t make good television either, right? Did you see the mark on her hand, by the way?”  
“No? Why?”  
“Because it might’ve been where she was bitten. It was still red. It was on her palm, too, so she must’ve gotten it when she picked something up, right? It was only small, but-”  
“You’re such- hic- a good detective, Eve-chan~”

Eve grinned through her own tears.

“Thank you, Hina-chan. We should tell the others, yeah? They’re going to be worried when they hear that someone’s dead on the announcement.”  
“We’ve gotta bury her first.”  
“Ok, Hina-chan. We’ll do that. Wanna find some flowers to put on her grave with me?”  
“I-I think she’d like that, yeah. Ok.”


	7. Danger Noodle/Definitely Not a Mimic

Ran was going to be so fucking pissed if there wasn’t a cave behind that damn waterfall.

Tsugumi had already left by the time Ran had figured out where they’d all go, but she was sure Tsugu would figure it out soon enough. They weren’t allowed to talk when they were leaving the starting area, but Ran and her childhood friends had their subtle nonverbal ways of communicating.

She’d been walking alone for hours. She looked around. 

If she had to guess, she’d say she was halfway to her destination, but with no good paths and no landmarks, all she could go by was her compass and intuition.

She was effectively lost.

She focused her gaze back on the ground before her. She was just about to plant her right foot down again and keep going when a stick moved.

She squinted. That wasn’t really a stick at all, was it? That was a snake.

It moved again, flicking its tongue out.

Ran stood still as a statue, hoping this stupid “danger noodle” (as Himari had once called it) would get the fuck out of the way.

Wait, were you supposed to run away from snakes? 

She bit her lip to stifle the urge to scream. Her whole body was tensed.

What were you supposed to do for snake bites again? Not suck the poison out, that one was stupid. Uhhhhh…

It flicked its tongue out again. Was it even awake?

Well. If this snake wasn’t going to move out of her way, she’d have to move out of its way.

Holding her breath, she slowly swung her still-up right foot over past the snake.

It hadn’t made a move to follow it.

She stomped her foot down and sprinted. 

Once she was sure she was out of range, She bent over panting. She checked the boots and the legs above them. No bite-marks.

Thank god. She snapped her eyes around, searching for anyone who could have seen. 

Coast was clear.

* * *

The discord had a tie between Yukina and Rinko, so my mum broke the tie and it's Yukina time

* * *

“U-um, Yukina-san? Why did we avoid Kaoru-san earlier?”

Yukina sighed.

“Because we’re better off without her in our party.”  
“Y-you think she’s a liability?”  
“Honestly? Yes. You saw how loud and careless she was when we encountered her. If we’re going to survive, we need more stealth than that.”  
“R-right.”

Rinko took another swig from her water bottle.

“Drink a little slower, we won’t have a top-up for a few hours yet.”  
“Isn’t there a stream nearby though?”

Yukina opened her map. She’d forgotten about it, but there was indeed a stream coming down from the mountains what must be mere minutes from their current position.

“So there is. Shall we go there, then?”  
“I would like that.”

Yukina was relieved. They had been walking for what must be almost six hours now, and she felt utterly disgusting. She was coated in sweat, and had dust stuck to her legs.

“Let’s go then.”

The two stood up, dusted themselves off, donned their backpacks, and started off northwest.

As promised, within another ten or so minutes, they were there. The water was a stunning teal blue, almost the colour of Sayo’s hair. Sayo had been close to the last to leave, according to the announcements, so even if she was headed in the same direction, Yukina and Rinko were almost 4 hours ahead of her.

Rinko was inspecting the surrounding area. Yukina joined her. 

Together, they found a chest. 

Rinko seemed oddly excited.

“Shall we open it?”  
“I-it might be a trap, though.”  
“Is there a way to tell?”  
“I have a few ideas, actually...”  
“From your videogames?”  
“Y-yes.”

Yukina watched patiently as Rinko felt for seamlines or wires or whatever it was she was searching for. She seemed satisfied with the lack of obvious mechanisms.

The pair unlocked the chest and flipped the lid open. Nothing exploded or shot arrows at them, or anything else Rinko might’ve been worried about.

“It’s a good thing mimics aren’t real, haha.”  
“What are mimics?”  
“They’re enemies that disguise themselves as ordinary objects, most famously treasure chests. They can be really nasty, especially when you’ve just finished a big fight and were hoping for good loot…”  
“I see.”

They stood up properly and looked inside the chest. Inside was a bow, a quiver of arrows, and a fishing net. 

“You can shoot, can’t you Rinko?”  
“A little, yeah.”  
“Good, because I can’t.”  
“Would you like me to teach you?”  
“Yes please.”

Rinko strapped the bow and quiver to her backpack. Yukina took the fishing net and tucked it into hers.

“C-can we swim, please?”  
“Sure.”  
“We should change under our towels just in case, right?”  
“Indeed.”

Yukina would normally object and refuse to wear her swimsuit, but she got the feeling that on this island, she’d need to. It was too damn hot to not.

Rinko wore a black and white one-piece swimsuit, with a faux high waistline and ruffled sleevelets. It was reminiscent of her favourite casual outfit, actually. Somewhat understated, and yet still elegant. The waistline suited her chubby frame well, and Yukina found herself staring.

Yukina herself was in a dark purple one-piece with a lace-pattern panel on the chest

They waded through the rocks to the deeper, more swimmable parts. The water was clear and cool, washing the stickiness off of them instantly. They strode in far enough to be clean, and then did their own things. 

Yukina, though lacking the usual floaties, lay on her back, letting the ripples made by Rinko’s laps gracefully hit her and guide her aimlessness. 

She flipped her hair out from beneath her to form a halo.

Comfortable though she was, she was vigilant. They were vulnerable here. Their stuff could easily be stolen, and their own newfound weapon could be used to dispatch them from a distance. 

It was unlikely, but it could happen.

Nonetheless, Yukina wished that it wouldn’t end. She didn’t want to go back to fucking hiking. She’d done enough of that for today.

“Rinko, would you like to make camp here? I know it’s only mid-afternoon, but I feel like this is too good of a spot to pass up.”  
“Y-yes… I think here’s good…”


	8. Maya's Done it Again/Saya Has Minion Bandaids, Change My Mind

Maya saw it just slightly too late. She had tripped a wire, and suddenly there were darts whizzing past her. One hit her in the neck, sending a sharp pain down her spine. Another hit her in the side of her torso. Too late, she covered her head with her hands and dropped to the floor.

She could hear the last few darts fly past above her loudly. Her head was swimming, eyes blurring, limbs numbing.

She clutched her new hatchet tighter. She lay down gently so that she wouldn’t hit her head when she passed out, which she promptly did.

* * *

She woke up. She opened her eyes slowly, and found two humanoid figures nearby, one standing watch, and one crouching right next to her.

“She’s awake.”  
“Oh good.”

Sayo walked over to where Maya lay and crouched down. Maya pushed herself onto her elbows, still feeling faint.

“Is she ok, Misaki?”  
“Uhhhhh… I don’t really know. She’s not got a high fever or anything but that’s not everything covered. You ok, Maya?”

Maya didn’t know. She ran some self-diagnostics.

Brain: fuzzy  
Heartbeat: slightly slower than her normal resting pace  
Dart impact areas: hot and aching  
Limbs: functional

“I gues so” She mumbled.  
“Good.”

Maya put her hand to her neck, where the dart had been, and found a bandaid. She pulled up her shirt and found another one over her ribs.

“Oh, thank you.”  
“No worries.”  
“Where are the darts? May I see them?”

Sayo opened a pocket on her backpack and presented it to Maya.

“I don’t know if the toxin is still on them or not, so be careful.”  
“Got it!”

The dart is about the length of her palm, with a short metal tip. Maya flicked her glasses down onto her face and had a closer look. It looked like the tip of a syringe upon closer inspection, and she wanted to try something. She picked up a nearby stick and jammed the dart into it.

As expected, the tip retracted a bit and a tiny dribble of clear liquid came out. A proper injection, huh?

“How long was I out?”  
“We don’t know when you got hit, so… no clue. It’s close to evening though, so I’d put the time somewhere between 5 and 6 if that helps?”  
“So… probably about 3 hours then?”  
“Maybe.”  
“Why wouldn’t it kill though?”

The girls pondered this. 

“Marina did say that the traps weren’t deadly, so they’re probably meant to just slow you down or something-”  
“Or put you at a disadvantage when facing enemies.”

Maya imagined what would’ve happened had she encountered that while being chased. 

She didn’t like that image, so she shook her head to erase it like an etch-a-sketch.

Maya had another look at the dart. It looked wooden, and had feathered fletching instead of plastic. Definitely going for a certain aesthetic here.

“You can have this back, by the way.”  
“Thanks.”

* * *

The discord had voted a tie between Pastel*Palettes and Poppin’Party, so it’s Saya time now

* * *

Kanon’s eyes must’ve screamed “Hug me, Hagumi!”, because Saya watched Hagumi bound into a tackle-hug to a "KANO-CHAN-SENPAI!!" when Saya called out to her an Kasumi.

Kasumi did the almost same to her.

“Whoa there, Kasumi, calm down! I’m glad to see you too!”  
“Saya~ I missed you!”  
“I missed you too!”

Saya tried to ignore the sweatiness of Kasumi, but she couldn’t.

“Kasumi, have you been running? I know you aren’t this unfit.”  
“Yeah! We had a bunch of races~”  
“I kept trying to slow her down, but I didn’t want to lose her, so...”  
“You did well, Hagumi. Can we go at a reasonable pace now though, Kasumi? I don’t think Kanon and I can keep up with you two.”  
“Ok!!”  
“You’re not hurt, are you?”  
“Nope!” Kasumi and Hagumi said in unison.  
“Good. I have some bandaids and things for if we do get hurt, so don’t hide it if you are.”  
“Oh!! Hagumi has some as well! Mine are zoo animals, what’re yours?”  
“Mine have minions on them! They’re so cute.”

They all nodded in agreement.

“Have you two had dinner yet?”  
“No, I’m hungry, are you, Hagu?”  
“I’m hungry! I miss croquettes…”  
“I had some of the bread for lunch earlier. Not to brag, but it’s not nearly as good as mine.”  
“You’re right! It’s still yummy though.”  
“S-should we set up a campfire? I know we don’t really have anything that needs heating up, but-”  
“It’s a good thing to have for the night, right?”  
“There’s still some daylight left though, I think we should save it until evening proper sets in.”  
“Y-you’re probably right.”

They found a clear patch with some rocks to sit on and set their backpacks down. Saya notices just how much they were digging into her shoulders. She reached back and tried to massage it.

Kasumi piped up.

“I’ll do yours if you do mine!”  
“Thanks, Kasumi.”  
“And I’ll do Kano-chan-senpai’s!”  
“Fuee… I don’t know how good I’ll be at massaging your back though, Hagumi…”  
“It’s ok! I’m sure you’ll do fine!”

Saya stretched out her arms, toned along with her core from drumming. Kasumi went to work with maybe too much enthusiasm, but she settled into it soon enough. She massaged deep into her shoulder muscles, releasing bucket-loads of tension and stress.

“Do you think we’ll get any cool stuff? I want real food.”  
“We could go hunting! Catch something to eat!”  
“W-what would we hunt with though, Hagumi-chan?”  
“Hmmmmmm…” Hagumi pondered.  
“She’s right, all we have is knives right now.”  
“We could throw them! I think I could do it!”  
“Ooh! Ooh! We could fashion throwing-spears! Or boomerangs!”  
“I’m not sure boomerangs are a viable weapon here, Kasumi…”  
“No no I saw it on TV, the Aborigines used them to hunt! Oh, but they did use special ones, and I don’t actually know how to make those, ehehe~”  
“Then how about we just start with some spears?”  
“Alright, yeah! I’ll go with Hagu, we can go look for some wood~”  
“Be back before dark though, ok?”  
“Ok!”


	9. Anklebreaker/Haunting the Fuck Out of You

“I think we should up our game a bit and play something. Anyone up for chasey?”  
“Yeah, why not? It’d help us be ready for if something bad happens.”  
“Gang-up or no dice.”  
“Sure!”  
“I’m in!”

Himari wasn’t particularly good at chasey, she never was. When she played it with her band-mates she usually ran blindly and got herself cornered. Nevertheless, she agreed to it. She was fast, and Kaoru, Chisato, Aya, and Lisa probably didn’t know her well enough to catch her too quickly, right?

They did eeny-meeny-miny-mo and Lisa was it.

Damnit! Lisa’s much fitter.

They all prepared, and when the starter sounded Himari sprinted into the bush squealing.

There was a “Tag!” nearby.

She could hear Lisa behind her, hot on her heels, gaining on her.

She closed her eyes for but a moment, and that’s when she felt it. There was a CRUNCH, and pain shot up her right leg. She tripped, landing face-first in the leaf litter of the ground.

“Owwwowowowowow! Ithurtsithurtshurtshurtshurts!”

Lisa slowed to a jog, and then to a stop behind her. 

“Tag!”  
“I think I broke something!” Himari sobbed.  
“Wait really? Hang on, lets get you back to camp.”  
"Ok~" She whined.  
“Guys! Game’s over, Himari’s hurt! Back to camp!”

Himari sat up, and Lisa helped her onto the one good foot.

“Can you carry me?”  
“Ok~”

Lisa lifted Himari into a princess carry, grunting. Himari suddenly felt bad about her weight. She wasn’t fat, not exactly, but she certainly wasn’t thin. She cried harder.

Lisa got her all the way to where the five had set up and lay Himari down on her towel.

“What happened, Himari?”  
“Yeah, are you ok??”

Himari couldn’t answer through her tears.

“It looks like she tripped on a tree root, poor thing.”  
“Ah, my poor little kitten, how my heart aches to see you in such a state.”

Chisato knelt down with Lisa to inspect the ankle. Himari screamed when they pried her shoe off to get a better look. Himari sat up as they slipped her sock off, seeing her ankle an angry, swollen red.

“I’m no expert, but I’d say that that’s broken.”  
“Sure seems so, huh?”  
“B-b-b-broken?? B-but-”  
“Himari calm down. You don’t have to deal with this alone. We’ll help you until it gets better, ok?”

Himari nodded.

“Now you can’t stand on it or walk on it, alright?”

Himari nodded again. She wasn’t exactly planning on doing that anyway.

She felt Chisato push down on her ankle again and saw fireworks. Everyone looked up, so it wasn’t just her pain reaction.

Marina’s voice came through a hidden speaker somewhere nearby. 

“It is now 7pm. Congratulations to the 24 of you for making it through the first 11 hours!”

24? But… there were 25 of them.

“That’s right, there are 24 of you left! One of you has died today! Kokoro Tsurumaki is now dead.”

Fresh tears fell from Himari’s face. There was a pause in Marina’s speech, which Kaoru took advantage of.

“When beggars die there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princesses.”

Chisato sighed deeply, even though the quote seemed to Himari as though it fit the situation.

“There are no other announcements. See you in the morning!”

Kaoru excused herself, and Chisato followed.

Aya was weeping and wrapped herself around Himari. Lisa joined the embrace.

They cried together.

* * *

The discord decided to switch to Ako

* * *

“When I die, I’m haunting the fuck out of you.”  
“If you die.”  
“You’re right, if I ever, in the fullness of time, die, unlikely though that is, I am going to haunt the fuck out of you.”  
“That’s better.”  
“I’m going to hell if I die, and there I shall command a legion of demons.”  
“That’s awesome Ako, you’d make a great leader!”

Ako was pleased with that. Tae leaned over and gave her a pat on the head, just like her sister did… She missed Tomoe. She hoped that they’d find her soon.

Arisa had been arguing with Tae (who was honestly more discussing than arguing), and Ako hadn’t been paying attention until they mentioned death.

Ako didn’t want to die, death was just a part of her aesthetic. Death, skulls, bones, graves, the undead, and the afterlife were all cool topics to explore. She played a necromancer in NFO, and was no stranger to corpses, at least in videogames.

“Do you think Kokoro went to heaven?”  
“Honestly, she wasn’t a bad girl, so… probably.”  
“I think she did. Do you think anyone’s buried her?”  
“That depends a lot on whether anyone’s found her in the first place. It’s not a small island, and she could’ve died right before the announcement, so I don’t know.”

Ako shifted uncomfortably.

“Are we even sure she’s dead? Marina might just be messing with us, right?”  
“Well that would be a massive demoralizer to set on everyone, she’s so damn happy all the time and has like 6 girlfriends. I wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t actually dead and they were just using her. I don’t think it’s a good idea on day one though, to suggest that there’s already a murderer.”  
“Yeah, that’s just… stupid, ahaha.”

Ako started trying to deduce who the murderer would be, but shook herself out of it. It was fake anyway, right? She should be able to trust her friends. She wanted to trust her friends, and she wanted them to trust her.

At least she had an alibi.


	10. Scorpions are Motherfuckers/Missing Chisato

Misaki reluctantly opened her eyes.

“Okusawa-san? It’s your turn to be on watch.”  
“Right, yeah. Gimme a sec.”

Misaki sighed and rubbed her face. She felt yet another pimple on her cheek. Great, another to add to the collection. Maya wasn’t completely clear-faced either, but even so she felt bad. Where was Michelle when you needed her, right?

“You ok, Okusawa-san?”  
“Yeah, you can sleep now Yamato-san.”  
“Okidoki!”

It was about midnight, and Maya had been keeping the fire going. By its light, she studied the figures of her companions. Sayo’s was an average bodytype, but Maya’s muscles rivaled her own. Must be all the equipment moving and drumming, she mused. That said, Kanon was pretty lean and not all that toned, and she was a drummer as well. Maybe it was something else?

Misaki stood up and started patrolling. She started bush-side and moved onto the dunes, watching the native mice and mouse-looking creatures scattering as she approached.

It was a nice night, all things considered.

She sat atop a dune, staring seawards, wondering how her family was back home. Would she get out of here and back to them soon?

Suddenly Misaki was jabbed in the calf by a hot needle, or at least that’s what it felt like. She yelped. She leaped up, trying to hold in a scream, and saw the offending “needle”; a small scorpion. She hissed at the pain and jogged back to the campfire. 

“Son of a fuck of a bitch of a damn of a-”  
“Okusawa-san? What is it?”  
“Scorpion! Motherfucker!”  
“That must really hurt… can I have a look?”

Misaki showed the back of her calf to her freshly-awakened fellows.

“Ouch!”  
“Yeah, no shit.”  
“Sorry.”

It was already swelling angrily.

“Are… are scorpion stings deadly?”  
“Some of them are. I’m not sure about Australia’s, but I wouldn’t put it past this godforsaken island continent.”  
“I actually looked this up! I got super fascinated by just how deadly everything in Australia is, and actually none of their scorpions have deadly stings. Still though, we have to do something, right? We could try dunking it in seawater maybe?”  
“That could work. If nothing else, it’ll disinfect it and cool it down.”  
“Greatlet’sgonowplease.”

Sayo was left at camp to tend the fire and keep watch. Maya walked Misaki down to the shore and waded with her into the water. 

As soon as the water hit the reddened flesh of the sting Misaki felt relief.

“Can you leave me here? This is much nicer. I felt like I was being stabbed by a red-hot dagger back there, and now it’s just a regular dagger.”  
“Huhehe, I don’t think that’s a viable option. We can stay here a bit longer, though, and I’m sure we can keep coming back.”

Misaki groaned.

* * *

The discord voted to switch to, out of the group of 5 that she’s in, Kaoru.

* * *

Kaoru drifted back into consciousness. It was morning, and the birdsong was unfamiliar. Where? Ah, right. Of course. She was on the island.

She opened her eyes to the open sky above her. She felt like she was late for something, but that must be her schooltime instinct kicking in. 

She opened her eyes and sat up dramatically, surveying her dear companions. She spied Aya and Himari, who were cuddling. She spied Lisa, just a bit away from them. And she spied… no, she didn’t spy Chisato. Chisato was supposed to be on watch, perhaps she was patrolling? Ah, what a diligent kitten, her Chisato.

Kaoru stood up and scanned the beach. The fire was out. Chisato wasn’t anywhere in sight on the beach, and she wasn’t in the water, but perhaps she was behind the dunes or in the forest.

Curiosity killed the cat, she mused. She worried for Chisato, and wanted to find her. Alive.

She put her hiking boots on and set off.

The shoreline held nothing of interest and yielded no tracks to follow, and the same was true of the dunes. Kaoru looked once again at her group. Lisa, Himari, Aya, herself… still no Chisato.

Chisato was a capable young lady, but Kaoru grew ever more eager to rescue her Juliet.

* * *

The discord voted for Kaoru to wake everyone up

* * *

“Eveyone! Wake up please!”

Aya stirred, Lisa turned over, and Himari seemed utterly oblivious.

“Chisato is missing!”

Kaoru gently shook her fellows awake, making sure to express the urgency of the situation. Once she had their attention, she instructed her kittens to put on their boots and form a search party.

Sleepy though they were, the girls obeyed.

“Do I have to stay here alone?”  
“Is it worth it to carry you? Hmmmm. Maybe someone should stay back with you?”

Himari gave Kaoru puppy-dog eyes, no doubt eager to either spend some alone time with her prince or be princess-carried by her.

* * *

The discord chose to leave Lisa behind with Himari

* * *

“Alas, my kitten, I fear that Chisato may listen only to me. I shall leave you in the care of one of these other fine ladies..?”  
“I’ll stay here, Aya can go with you. Don’t worry, I’ll keep her safe!” Lisa said with a wink and an ‘ok!’ hand gesture.  
“Excellent! Adieu, fairest kittens. I shall return posthaste with our princess in hand, I assure you-”  
“Kaoru! Let’s go already!”

* * *

The discord voted to quietly sweep the surrounding area

* * *

Kaoru turned to Aya and nodded. She strode confidently into the forest calling Chisato’s name. Aya hushed her.

“We can’t be so loud, what if we spook whatever has her?”  
“Ah, you are correct. Perhaps she is trapped by a device or an animal of some sort-”  
“Or a kidnapper!”

Kaoru tries to control her breathing when she thinks about Chisato being kidnapped, maybe even tortured…

She had already lost one girlfriend to this damned island, she would not lose another.

“Shall we begin our sweep, then, little kitten?”

Aya giggled softly and nodded at her. 

They began sweeping a small area by the camp, turning once they reached a certain distance and going further in along the same way they had come, forming semicircles increasing in size. Aya was within earshot at all times, but she would hear not a peep from Kaoru.

She was focused. Her footfalls were practically silent, her usually oblivious sight trained on every detail of her environment.

She inspected the ground for footprints and disturbed earth, the bushes and trees for scrap fabric, the grass for trample marks, the treetops for the girl herself. 

All she found were ants, birds, and spiders.

If she truly was gone, someone was taking a lot of care to ensure that she wasn’t found.

Kaoru was starting to feel hopeless. What Chisato had abandoned them of her own free will? Did she even love her and Aya at all? No note, no goodbye, nothing?

Kaoru knew that Chisato would not kill herself so easily, so it can’t have been that. 

She and Aya were getting far too far out from the camp for it to simply be an animal, unless it was a large one that had chased her or something of that nature.

Kaoru pictured the brave Chisato fighting off a tiger. This made her happy. Her Chisato was so talented, and beautiful, and brave, and charming, and Kaoru simply must find her and bring her to safety. She wanted her in her arms again.

A chime resounded through the bush.

“It is now 7am. Congratulations to the 24 of you for making it through another 12 hours! Nobody has died between then and now.”

Oh thank the gods.

“Oh, also, a reminder; the docks will unlock in 5 hours and 20 minutes. That’s all, folks!”

Kaoru didn’t care about the docks, all she cared about was that Chisato was alive. Perhaps suffering, but alive as of right now.

As she was scanning, she saw Aya standing still and smiling at her, clearly glad that Chisato was alive as well.

She smirked.

She was sure that they’d find her Juliet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned to see what Chisato's up to...


	11. Chisato Feels Naked (but isn't)/KanoHagu Discuss the Band (and Kiss)

Chisato sighed. She still had at least 5 hours to get there, which was good. She’d been walking for more than two already, cautiously covering her tracks. If she continued like this, she wouldn’t get there on time.

She eyed her eucalyptus branch broom, the one she’d been using to cover her tracks. It worked well, covering the scent of her deodorant as well as her footprints. She hoped. No, she knew. She had checked nigh religiously that it worked.

For all those lovable idiots knew, she’d vanished. She was sure of it. 

Was it time to ditch the broom? She would move faster, certainly, and be able to stake out the docks much sooner.

She did some inner maths about who might find her and how soon. She had set off early enough, so it was unlikely that she’d be caught unless someone was already at the docks.

She worried about Misaki. What if she wanted Michelle back? What if she took her first? 

What was Chisato saying? She didn’t want Michelle, she’d journeyed for… for…

For what? She was so sure of herself when she left. She’d forgotten something from her bags, but... she didn’t remember what. She had to continue, to find it. 

It was important.

She felt conscious of herself suddenly, feeling naked. Was it her makeup? Surely she wouldn’t go to such lengths for something so silly, even if she did feel so very bare without it, right?

No. She’d remember once she arrived. She had to believe.

* * *

The discord had to reach 4 votes in 4 hours for Chisato to keep on her path and not get lost

* * *

It was important.

It was too important. She couldn’t turn back now. She threw the broom aside, adjusted her backpack straps, and checked her compass. She remembered the announcement. 5 hours. She should be able to get there with at least a little time to spare.

She hadn’t paid as much attention to Misaki as Michelle as she’d like, but there was always the background actor Chisato who analyzed voices and inflections. Michelle was different from Misaki, somewhat cheerier if still a little flat.

“Happy! Lucky! Smile! Yay!”

Hm. Nope. She tried again with a lower voice.

Still no. She tried with a slightly higher voice, a flatter voice, a voice less flat than that, and so on.

It’d take some practice, but she would get it before her journey’s end. She was sure of it.

* * *

The discord decided to switch to a Hello, Happy World! Member, Hagumi

* * *

Hagumi stared at the brightening sky. She’d been awake for a long time, but she couldn’t move. Not with all these cute sleeping girls practically on top of her.

…

… Finally. Some movement from Kanon and Tsugumi. She hoped that they were waking up. She wanted to move!

Still nothing but light snores from Kasumi though.

Hagumi heard the beginnings of a “Fuee~” from her left, and leaned over.

“Shhhh! Everyone’s sleeping!” She whispered.  
“H-Hagumi-chan! I had the worst dream, and I think it’s still happening, and it’s horrible, and-”  
“Kano-chan-senpai, this is real.”  
“N-n-n-no way! It can’t be… I don’t like this… fuee~”  
“Shhhhhh! People are still sleeping, Kano-chan-senpai.”

Hagumi tugged her right arm away from Kasumi and brought it around onto Kanon, who leaned into it.

“I don’t want everyone to wake up because of me, they shouldn’t have to be conscious for any more of this than necessary. Hagumi-chan, can we..?”  
“Mhm mhm!”

Somehow, the two managed to extricate themselves from the cuddle-pile without waking anyone else up. They trekked upwards for a minute, Kanon’s crying growing a little louder every step.

Hagumi couldn’t take it. She pulled the bluenette into a tight embrace, starting to cry herself.

“Hagumi-chan…”

Hagumi felt her tears dampen the taller girl’s shirt and cried harder.

“It’s not fair! Hagumi is- Hagumi’s-”

She couldn’t finish her sentence.

They stood together, leaning into each other. Hagumi couldn’t tell how long they were like that.

“Um, Hagumi-chan? Can we sit down please?”

She nodded. They found a suitable rock and Hagumi sat down.

“Will you sit in my lap? Please?”

Kanon obliged her, and Hagumi wrapped her strong arms easily around her leaner frame.

“Do you think Kokoro’s really dead?”  
“I can’t believe that! Kokoron, she’s really- really-”  
“Really what?”  
“I don’t know! She’s really something and that means she can’t die! Right?”  
“Ah, I think I know what you mean. Do you think the others are ok?”  
“Mii-kun’s really clever, so she’s probably somewhere safe. Kaoru-kun’s really charming, so she’s probably with a bunch of people and safe. Do you think Michelle feels at home in the wild? I haven’t seen her since we were on the boat, though…”  
“Ah, Hagumi-chan, Michelle is- never mind. I’m sure Michelle is fine.”  
“I’m super glad I found you, Kano-chan-senpai.”  
“I’m glad I found you too, Hagumi-chan!”

She stared into her eyes.

“I love you.” They said to each other.  
“Um, i-if it’s alright, may Hagumi kiss you?”

Kanon’s blushing got even more out of control. She was such a cutie! She leaned in, and Hagumi connected their lips. Their tears hadn’t dried, and it felt really weird, but Hagumi was still glad of it.

“U-um, Hagumi-chan? I think we should head back, they might be missing us…”

Hagumi nodded. 

“Hagumi-chan, you have to let go of me or I can’t stand up.”  
“O-oh! Right! Sorry.”

They both got up, and Hagumi lead the way back to camp. Saya was waiting for them.

“So that’s were you two were. I was wondering where you’d gotten to.”  
“We’re sorry if we worried you, Saya-chan.”  
“I’m just glad you’re both safe.”


	12. It's Adventurer Moca Time Now, Bitches/Ran is an Edgy Bastard

Moca was still clinging to sleep like a child to their parent at the airport when Tomoe poked her.

“Oi, Moca. Get up.”

Moca kept her eyes firmly closed.

“I know you can hear me, Moca. You can’t keep this up much longer.”

She rolled over.

“We’ve got somewhere to be, they’re waiting for us.”

She groaned.

“I’ll leave you behind.”

Then do it.

“Don’t you want to see Ran?”

Fuck. 

Moca rolled onto her back. Her eyes shot open.

“That’s more like it, good girl!”  
“Mmgbfmnnmgfbastardmghnfngm”  
“What was that?”  
“Oh, you know~”

Tomoe sighed, and Moca sighed back louder. She put her hands behind her head and hummed, trying to wake herself up.

Several minutes later, Tomoe plonked a wide-brimmed hat onto the sleepy girl’s head.

It’s Adventurer Moca Time Now, Bitches.

Bush-ranger Moca. She liked the sound of that. She sat up.

“G’day, mate~”  
“G’morning, Moca. Ready for brekke?”  
“Brea(d)kfast time~”  
“H-how did you do that with your mouth?”  
“Moca-chan secret~”

Moca reached into her bag for her bread rations and pulled out less than she expected. She pouted.

“I know, right? I keep trying to get you to ration it out better, but you keep stress-eating. We’re not getting more.”  
“Maybe if I pray to Babanbo-sama…”  
“We just have to get out of here sooner. As soon as we meet up with Ran and the others we’ll start planning a way off this island, ok?”  
“Or we could just find Saya and get her to make bread for us~ She can make ‘bush bread’ or something and we can live off of that. Don’t you want to see Saya, Tomo-chin?”  
“I-I guess…”

Moca saw Tomoe blush and smirked.

“Anyway, get up and get dressed, we’ve got to move out.”  
“Ok~”

Moca lifted her hat to pull her special “Let’s Get This Bread” hooded tank over her head. It was made for her. It fit like a glove, but not really, because it was actually perfectly loose.

She slipped her knee-length cargo shorts over her boxers, put on her crew socks and hiking shoes. Moca stood up.

“How’s this?”  
“Mocatastic?”  
“Damn right it is.”

Tomoe herself was already dressed, with a short-sleeved button-up over long tight pants tucked into cool-looking boots. She wore a similar hat to Moca's and a faint smile.

“Tomo-chin you’re the dashing gay to my tacky gay.”  
“And what’s that supposed to mean? You look fine, Moca.”  
“I’m not supposed to look fine, I’m supposed to look like a lovable mess.”  
“That’s what I meant.”

Moca genuinely didn’t give a shit about her fashion sense. As long as it was comfortable, she would wear it. Everything is a look of some kind, so it didn’t really matter. Validation is validation though, and she’d take as much of that as she could.

Tomoe helped her re-pack her things while she had breakfast, and they set off. 

They weren’t actually that far from the waterfall, but Moca had collapsed. It probably wouldn’t take them that long to get to the waterfall. Probably.

* * *

Control switch to Ran

* * *

Ran sat on the cliff edge and stared, brooding, at the horizon. She hadn’t ventured to the beach below, not yet. She wouldn’t until the others got there. She wanted to explore with them like they did when they were little.

None of them had died overnight, but she couldn’t help but wonder if they were ok. If someone had hurt them, she wasn’t sure what she would do. She might punch them, she might stab them, she might hit them with a blunt weapon like a tree branch, she might strangle them. She might kill them.

She felt a little guilty about these thoughts, and guilty that she didn’t feel more guilty about them. She wasn’t a violent person, not any more than the next, but revenge? Revenge was a delicious dish that she had tasted before.

Ah, but she shouldn’t think about that. She told herself to stop being such an edgy bastard. She wouldn’t have to hurt anybody because nobody else would start it. Some of the other girls might be a tad mean, but they were too wimpy to initiate a fight. 

These were their friends.

Everything was fine.

Kokoro’s death was probably just an accident, nothing more than that.

“Ran! Oi, Ran!”

Ran was startled, almost falling down the cliff face when she heard Tomoe’s voice.

“Careful! Geez.”  
“It was nothing. I’m fine, as always.”  
“If you say so.”

Ran stood and slowly walked over to her approaching companions. Once they were close enough, Moca slumped into a hug.

This hug lasted uncomfortably long, and Ran could feel her cheeks reddening.

“Moca?”  
“Mmmmmmmm?”  
“Get off.”  
“Ehehehe~ Ok~”  
“C’mon Moca, you heard the lady.”

Moca reluctantly released her.

“Ah, before I forget, Moca-chan has something she wants to share with you~”  
“What?”

Moca rummaged through her backpack and retrieved something red.

“Ta-da! Dynamite~”  
“Moca?”  
“Mmmmmmmm?”  
“Where the fuck did you find dynamite?”  
“I fought the guardian of a treasure chest for it.”  
“She met Arisa at a supply cache and Arisa let her take it.”  
“Ah, of course.”

Ran didn’t exactly trust Moca with dynamite, but she didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter.

“Where’s Himari?”  
“Dunno.”  
“She left before us, so she should already be here.”  
“I haven’t seen her.”  
“Maybe she’s found another group?”  
“Hii-chan’s probably lost or something. Are you worried?”  
“I know I’m worried, and I’m sure Ran is too. Should we wait for her to get here? She might just be a little bit lost.”

* * *

The discord voted for them to search for her at the mountains

* * *

“She’d probably head for the biggest landmark to get her bearings, right? She’s probably at the mountains or something. We can look for Tsugumi on the way there as well.”  
“Sounds good.”  
“Alright, off we go~”


	13. Mountainwards Ho!/Tsukkomi Janai

Arisa sighed for the umpteenth time that morning. Tae and Ako were talking her ears off, and she could hardly stand it. She really should be over this jealousy stuff by now, they all had several love interests and were fine with it, so why should a mere friend bother her?

She was trying to be better, really she was, but it was so annoying when one of her girlfriends was favouring a rando over her. Was it the rabbit ears thing that bothered her? Maybe, but that was a moronic thing to be jealous of. She didn’t even like being called Tae’s rabbit that much. 

It was at that moment that she walked head-first into a giant spiderweb that was suspended rather obviously between two trees.

She screamed.

“We did tell you to dodge.”  
“SHUT UP AND HELP ME! Please.”

She was scrambling to get all the web off of her face and hair when her hand brushed against something much different in texture.

“IS THAT THE SPIDER IS IT THE SPIDER PLEASE TELL ME IT’S NOT-”  
“It looks like something the spider ate, actually!”  
“EW but also good ok can you PLEASE get it off of me now???!?”

The two helped Arisa remove it without much issue.

“Who is it?” Queried a voice just out of sight.  
“Moca! It’s me, Ako!”  
“SISTER!!”  
“SISTER!!!”

Tomoe came crashing out of the brush, colliding with Ako. Moca and Ran emerged as well.

“Hello! It’s nice to meet you again!”  
“Yeah. Yeah.”  
“Yeah~”

Tomoe was rubbing her sister’s head playfully.

“I’m so glad I found you guys!”  
“Well actually we found you. We heard screaming and came running.”  
“Come to think of it, that was stupid. Who runs towards screaming?”  
“What if someone was in trouble? Of course we had to run towards the screaming. Speaking of, are you three alright?”  
“Yeah, what was with the yelling?”  
“Arisa walked into a spiderweb.”  
“You didn’t have to say that!”  
“They did ask.”

Arisa rolled her eyes.

“So what are you doing here, anyway?”  
“I could ask the same of you.”  
“We were headed to the mountains to find Himari and Tsugumi.”

The mountains. Of course! 

“Come to think of it, that’s probably where Kasumi went, huh?”  
“That does sound like a Kasumi thing to do. Wait a second, why didn’t you say that earlier??”  
“I dunno, I just thought of it now. We were trying to find someone to ‘dump Ako on’, remember?”  
“R-right.”

Stupid. Now they looked super rude to these Afterglow people.

“Can we come with you?”

Arisa really just wanted to leave these assholes on their own and look for their bandmates themselves. She could see that Ran was likely thinking the same. Could she trust these people?

* * *

The discord voted to have them stay as one group

* * *

“Sis, these two are nice! Please let them come with us.”  
“Ran, what do you think?”  
“Fine by me.”  
“Mountainwards ho!”  
“W-what did you just call me?”  
“I stand by what I said.”  
“Ahaha, I think she meant that we’re going to the mountains, not that she was ordering you around and calling you names.”  
“Tomo-chin, you really get me~”  
“Alright, so we’re all going together then?”

A chorus of “Yes” and “Sure” met Arisa’s ears, including her own voice. She was hesitant to go with these randos, but she couldn’t be the only one to disagree.

And so they set off together for the mountains, for their bandmates.

* * *

Control switch to Sayo

* * *

Sayo, Misaki, and Maya were having a breakfast of berries and bread. It wasn’t what Sayo would call delicious, but it was probably more healthy than her usual fare.

Maya spoke up.

“Um, would it be alright if I searched for my bandmates? I know you two work well as a unit, and it’s not that I don’t trust you, I just think that some of the weaker girls in particular are probably relying on me. You don’t have to stay with us, or even come with me, but… I think I want to go. Either way, thank you for helping me out so far.”  
“It’s admirable that you’re looking out for the others, I’ll give you that. If you’re sure you can trust them, that’s fine.”  
“Should we go with her, though? One of us could stay here and make camp, or we could both go with her, or I guess she could go alone.”

* * *

The discord voted for Sayo to go with Maya while Misaki makes camp at a certain location

* * *

“I’ll go with her. Okusawa-san, you can make camp. Where should we search first, Yamato-san?”  
“Knowing them, I would say the beaches. We may have been closer to last, but I doubt that they’re further south than we are.”  
“So we comb the beaches north then?”  
“Sounds like a plan.”

It sounded solid enough to Sayo.

“So where do I set up camp? I could do it here, I could do it in that cove…” Misaki points to her map.  
“I could set up on the end over here, or I could set up by the lake.”  
“I think it’d be too easy to corner us on that end, and we might be too open here or at the cove-”  
“So the lake’s our best bet then, huh?”  
“It would seem so. Okusawa-san, if the lake is indeed a no-go, you can come back here or go to the cove.”  
“Fair enough. I’ll see you later then?”

Sayo paused from her packing. She thought about it.

“Yes, I’ll see you when I get back.”  
“Wonderful.”

Misaki gave Sayo a half-assed smile. Sayo didn’t know how to respond, so she gave a half-assed thumbs up. Misaki returned the thumbs-up.

“Shall we head off then, Sayo-san?”  
“Yes.”

Maya waved a Misaki, who waved back. Sayo waved as well. She had to get better, she had to stop being so awkward.

After a few minutes, Maya piped up, breaking the silence.

“Sayo-san, how do you think Hina-san’s doing?”

Sayo had been avoiding that. She’d probably already set up camp and gotten a bunch of her friends together.

“I’m sure she’s doing fine, she always does.”  
“Aww, that’s sweet! I wonder if she’s got the rest of the band together waiting for me..?”  
“I wouldn’t put it past her.”  
“You miss her too? You know, you could stay with us once we find her…”

Sayo didn’t know what to say to that yet, so she kept walking.

“Of course I miss her, she’s my sister.”  
“You wanna keep her safe as well then, right? I think… I think she needs you, especially at a time like this.”  
“I understand.”  
“You don’t want to leave Misaki though, do you? Do you have feelings for her?”

No! No, of course not. No. Maybe. They made a good team, sure, but was it like that? Did Misaki think it was like that?

“Did Okusawa-san say something like that?”  
“Not really, huhehe, she just… I don’t know, the way she looks at you? She really values your presence, y’know?”  
“I see.”

Open up. Open up. Open up.

“I value her as well.”  
“Good! You two are sorta the straight-man of your respective groups, so it makes sense that you get along. I try to be one myself, but I think Chisato-san beats me in that respect.”  
“I know it’s a saying but I am anything but a straight man.”  
“Same here!”

Sayo didn’t like the English phrase for tsukkomi, and she didn’t particularly like being called a tsukkomi in the first place. 

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, considering how Hina’s trans and you’re twins, I really shouldn’t’ve used that phrasing. I’m sorry. You’re not a heterosexual male, you’re a… lesbian(?) young woman? I’m pan, myself.”  
“I am a lesbian, yes. Hina’s very open about that, and I can’t say I appreciate it.”  
“That’s gotta suck, huh? It’s something to be celebrated, sure, but when you’ve got an identical twin who doesn’t wanna be outed, it must be tricky. At least she hasn’t gone completely public about it though, right? She’s told me and the rest of Pastel*Palettes, but that’s because we’re girlfriends.”  
“Indeed. I’ve had to tell her off for it many times.”  
“Well she does listen. I know it seems like she’s being frivolous about it, but she didn’t tell any of us until we became partners instead of just bandmates or friends. She really looks up to you.”

Sayo sighed.

“Just… don’t tell anyone, ok?”  
“I wasn’t planning on it! I’m actually kinda genderqueer, actually. I don’t know, I haven’t really got it all figured out yet, but I’m not… well, you know. I-I’m still fine with -chan and she/her, though!”  
“Good to know.”

Sayo still had trouble wrapping her head around things like that. It’d been hard enough accepting being binary trans. She had to try, though. She’s better than this.

She also hadn’t planned on calling anyone -chan ever, but it was good to know nonetheless.

* * *

Author’s note: The author of this work is agender, and is writing a lot of these characters as trans, Sayo’s just being angsty. The author is not using it as a weird plot device.

* * *

“I’m glad you’re being honest with yourself, Yamato-san. It’s a difficult thing, to be queer. Being so open about it is… admirable.”  
“And you’re valid for not being open about it. It’s perfectly reasonable, with all the stigma! Maybe one day you’ll be open about it, but that day doesn’t have to be soon or ever!”  
“I… I trust you. You’re a reliable person, Yamato-san, I really hope you realize that.”  
“I try, hehe.”


	14. Stan Tsugu and Damper

Rimi stayed quiet. Everyone was talking, and she didn’t know quite what to say. She missed her bass, she missed her favourite food, she missed Tae and Arisa. She didn’t want to be here.

And then she wasn’t there and she wasn’t her. The eyes unfocused, the fidgeting stopped, the breathing slowed.

There was the vague sensation of being tapped, but there was no sense of being attached to it.

Hands being waved in front of a face.

And then she was back.

“Huh?”  
“You ok, Rimi-rin? You spaced out again!”  
“Y-yeah, it’s fine. I’m fine.”  
“Have you eaten enough? You probably miss your choco cornets, huh?”  
“Kasumi, don’t make fun of her.”  
“I wasn’t insulting her! I didn’t mean to. Sorry, Rimi-rin.”  
“It’s ok, Kasumi-chan!”  
“Is it ok if Hagumi calls you Rimi-rin too?”  
“That’s fine, Hagumi-chan!”

Rimi felt embarrassed. She didn’t like spacing out like that, and she didn’t like the way it worried people.

“We were just discussing whether we should try making damper, actually.”  
“W-what’s that?”  
“It’s a kind of bread the Aborigines make, it’s easier to make than the bread I’m used to. It’s no choco cornet, but it’s food.”  
“Tsugu was the one to recommend that we find more food!”  
“Stan Tsugu!”  
“Thanks guys.”  
“Kasumi-chan, what does ‘stan’ mean?”  
“Oh, I know this one. Himari uses it a bunch. It’s internet slang for when you really appreciate someone!”  
“That’s really sweet then! I stan you guys, all of you!”  
“Do you stan me and Saya?”  
“Yep!”  
“Yaaaaay!!”

Rimi was glad that everyone was getting closer. She didn’t like to think that she’d be betrayed, and she didn’t like to think that she might lose any of them, even those she doesn’t know very well yet.

“What do we have to do to make damper, Saya?”  
“The recipe is actually in the handbook, so you can check for yourself. I’m going to need some of you to gather spinifex seeds for me, and I’m going to need some water, too. We could use water from our bottles, but to make enough bread consistently we’ll need a better water source.”  
“We could go check out that lake to the northeast? We can boil water from there.”  
“Sh-should we move camp to that lake then? Water can be heavy, a-and I don’t know if I could carry much of it.”  
“I agree with Kanon-senpai, water is heavy.”

* * *

The discord voted for them to move camp to the lake on the northeast mountainside

* * *

“Does anyone want to keep camp here then?”

A chorus of “no”. Rimi was scared of change, and she was scared that they’d walk into a trap, and she was scared that the map was a lie, and she was scared that she’d get lost. She did want everyone fed, though.

“Do we want to go to the beach then? Or we could go to the lake to the northeast instead.”  
“The beach is so far away~”  
“But Kaa-kun, think of the possibilities! We can have a beach episode!”  
“There’re probably other beach episodes happening right now, and besides, I wanna stay close to the mountain! That way we can see the stars better.”  
“Kasumi has a point, we can see the stars better from the mountain!”  
“I… yeah alright that’s valid, but I think she has another point in that sticking to the mountain is a good idea in general. People will probably come here sooner or later so we can get everyone together, we have elevation for if there’s a flood, it’s pretty central and easy to get around from, and yeah, we can see the stars better!”

Saya always has the best ideas. Rimi’s glad of her, Saya makes her feel a lot safer. Rimi likes Kasumi too, and she’s happy for the spice she adds to her life, but sometimes she gets really carried away, and Saya has to keep her in check. Rimi’s too shy to do anything much about it, and sometimes nobody really listens to Arisa for some reason.

Rimi misses Arisa. And Tae. She hopes they meet up again soon.

“U-um! What if people are looking for us? This side of the mountain is the one facing most of the island, so I think that maybe if people are coming to the mountain to find a group, maybe they’d miss us if we just leave? I want Tae and Arisa back.”  
“I want Mii-kun and Kaoru-kun back too! We should leave a trail or something so they can follow us!”  
“Good idea, Hagumi-chan! What do we leave, though?”  
They thought for a moment. “I’ve got it!”  
“What is it, Kasumi-chan?”  
“We can drag a big stick behind us and mark the trees and leave our campfire super obvious!”  
“That’s… not bad, actually. If we want people to find us, which we do, then it can’t hurt to be loud about it, right?”  
“Yeah!”

Everyone nodded. Rimi worried about people hunting them down, but surely none of the girls from the band would do that. Surely. None of them would do that, right? 

She regretted saying anything about it now. It was entirely likely that no-one would hunt them down, almost certain, but there was a sliver of doubt in her mind. It nagged at her.

“Shall we pack up now then? We can look for spinifex on the way, too!”  
“Sounds solid. Everyone..?”

Another chorus of “yes” and nodding, Rimi included.

She didn’t like this, though. She didn’t like any of this, any part of the whole situation. She didn’t like anything except for her friends.

“Rimi-rin?”  
“Huh? Yes?”  
“Can we hold hands when we walk? I liked that back when we had the fireworks festival…”

Rimi had liked it too. Kasumi’s hand was so warm, and when Kasumi had given a comforting squeeze Rimi’s heart had pounded. Kasumi could be so kind and lovely...

If anyone had noticed Rimi’s rising blush, they didn’t say anthing.

“Y-yeah! I think that’d be nice. So that we don’t get lost or anything!”  
“So that we don’t get lost!”  
“C-can I hold someone’s hand too? I’m not very good at directions, and I get lost very easily.”  
“How about we go in groups of three then? I’ll be with you and Hagumi, and the popipa girls can go together. Does that sound ok?”  
“Yes please!”


	15. The First Animal Companion/Dock Unlock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a pet is on the scene!

“Hey, Lisa-senpai? When do you think Kaoru-senpai and the others are coming back? It’s been a long time..”  
“It has, hasn’t it? Hmmm… I don’t know.”  
“What if they’ve been eaten by something?”  
“We would’ve heard that though, right? They would’ve screamed or made noise somehow.”  
“Maybe they’ve all been kidnapped!”  
“Himari, I don’t think-”  
“Or maybe they’re on a wild goose chase and it’s us who get kidnapped!”  
“You really think I’d let that happen?”

Himari looked at Lisa, uncertain. Lisa decided to calm her down.

Lisa pulled up her sleeves and posed.

“See these guns? These abs? They’ll protect you.”  
“Not as big as Tomoe’s!”  
“Nope, but Tomoe wouldn’t want to be against us anyway because she loves you! So it’s fine, see?”

Lisa couldn’t tell how convinced Himari was, because Himari was in her own little world. She was so cute with the way she thought about Tomoe. She was so cute in general! She kind of envied Tomoe for the way she had captured Himari’s heart, but it wasn’t a competition. They could all be gay together, and they were, and it wasn’t useful to be jealous, it wasn’t fun, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t-

“Lisa-senpai, did you hear that?”  
“Hear what?”  
“From the bushes. There was a rustling.”  
“Himari, there are plenty of things that rustle in the bushes-”

And then there it was. A long marsupial face peered at them from behind a shrub before hopping closer.

A kangaroo! A small one, with shorter legs than usual, and with different colouring than you’d expect.

A wallaby then? A wallaby!

“- Like that.”  
“Is that… a kangaroo?”  
“I think it’s a wallaby actually? They’re different, somehow. Don’t you remember- wait, you weren’t there. Hina had a bunch of us watch some docos together. I didn’t absorb all that much, but they have some cute animals here, huh?!?”  
“It looks kinda freaky, but like, in a cute way! Should we go near it?”

* * *

Here the discord voted for Lisa to approach with some grass for the creature, which is a yellow-footed rock wallaby

* * *

“Let’s grab it some grass or something first.”  
“Good idea, Lisa-senpai!”  
“Keep it quiet, though.”  
“Okay.”

Lisa pulled out a few large tufts of still-green grass from a dune and made her way down to the wallaby. She squatted and held the offering out in front of her, looking down and away from the creature.

A hop.

Another hop. Another.

A tug. Lisa snuck a peek at it, and it didn’t seem to mind. She let it get another mouthful before taking a step back to see if it’d follow. It hesitated, but followed anyway.

“Good wallaby, good girl, good!” She whispered to it.

The wallaby did what Lisa could only interpret as a smile when she said that.

“Do you wanna come visit Himari? Yeah you do. Hang on, let me get some more grass for you, I’ll be right back.”

Lisa fetched some more grass and led the wallaby back over to where Himari sat. Himari seemed utterly enamoured with the creature.

“She’s so cute! I love her fuzzy yellow socks. Can we keep her?”  
“I mean, we might as well? Animals make you feel better, and I think we need all the emotional support we can get.”  
“You’re right. So what do we name her?”  
“You said you like her fuzzy socks, right?”  
“Yeah. Wait, are we calling her fuzzy socks?”  
“Nah, I was thinking just Keba.”  
“Fuzzy… I like it! Do you like it?”

The wallaby seemed indifferent, which Himari took as a yes.

“Hello, Keba!”  
“Hello Keba!”  
“If anyone lays a hand on Keba I will kill everyone on this island and then myself.”  
“Valid and same.”

* * *

Control switch to Chisato

* * *

“ATTENTION!”

Chisato was already alert, but she jumped at the announcement. She had been waiting at the edge of the clearing for a while, patrolling the edges to ensure that she was alone. Apart from the helicopter, she was indeed alone here, as far as she knew.

“The docks are now open again, you will not be sniped for entering! Good luck and happy killing, girls!”

Just what Chisato had been waiting for. She took a step onto the beach, holding her breath. Nothing.

She sighed, feeling stupid. She strode down to the docks, watching the helicopter leave. Good riddance. She’d seen it move when she got too close to the beach maybe half an hour earlier, and had been on edge ever since.

Michelle sat a bit apart from the bags, head off, inviting…

What was she here for again?

* * *

The discord voted MICHELLE

* * *

Trying to convince herself it was something else was pointless. She was here for Michelle and she knew it.

Approaching Michelle was easy. Entering Michelle was not.

Michelle was remarkably well-made, but despite that, she was claustrophobic, heavy, and hot.

She’d not even donned her head and she could feel it.

Fuck.

At least Michelle was “naked”, that was some mercy.

“Happy, Lucky, Smile, Yay!”

That… sounded much better. Must've been the suit. 

She thought of Kanon, and how proud she’d be to learn that someone was piloting Michelle and making the rest of Hello, Happy World! smile again. She would probably find out that it was Chisato sooner or later, but that didn’t matter.

She wanted Kaoru to be reassured, especially since she seemed more in love with this bear than Chisato herself. She wanted Hagumi, who she was awkwardly kind of friends with thanks to Kanon and Kaoru, to smile again as well.

Hello, Happy World! Was nothing without their DJ. With Kokoro gone as well as Michelle, they’d fall apart so easily...

People needed Michelle, she reasoned. Misaki could be framed by Michelle. People wanted Michelle. Michelle could get away with so much. Michelle made people smile.

Michelle made Chisato smile.


	16. KaoAya Find Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Aya-centric chapter

“Kaoru-san! Can you come here for a moment?”

Aya was having a hard time walking. They’d been sweeping for hours without a significant break. Kaoru hadn’t suggested one, and Aya didn’t want to seem weak or like she wasn’t as invested in finding Chisato.

This was too much though.

Kaoru came jogging up to her.

“What is it, my kitten? Have you found her?”

How did she have the stamina to jog? What on earth did she do with her band?

“No, I haven’t. I need a rest, Kaoru-san. I know we need to find her, but the more we tire ourselves out the less likely we are to find her, right?”  
“I suppose you have a point.”

Did she even feel tired? Aya’s legs had switched to autopilot some time ago, but she could still feel fatigue creeping in.

* * *

The discord rolled a d20 with a +1 modifier and a DC of 12. They rolled an 18.

* * *

Aya went to lean against a tree when she noticed something odd about it. 

“Kaoru-san, there’s a mark on this tree.”  
“A sign!”  
“It looks like it points in a direction too, should we follow it?”  
“But of course, my kitten. It might lead us to Chisato, might it not?”  
“You’re right… but what if it’s a trap? Should we draw our knives?”  
“Caution is key, kitten. ‘Tis no saber, but ‘tis a weapon nonetheless.”  
“I hope we don’t scare anyone friendly!”  
“I’m sure everyone will sense our noble intent. Fear not, Aya.”  
“I’m not worried! I’m sure we’ll find her!”

Aya admired her confident facade, from one masquerade to another. In reality, Aya supposed they were both very scared, but with each other? They were their confident personas. 

She almost wished they were more honest with each other, but she didn’t want to break down. Being true to her feelings was something she could do on her own time, not something she should force Kaoru to deal with, especially right now.

It didn’t take them long to find the group leaving the marks. So much for a break, though. 

It wasn’t Chisato. Kasumi was making marks on the trees, holding Rimi’s hand, who was in turn holding Saya’s. Hagumi was making a line with a stick, holding Kanon’s hand, who was in turn holding Tsugumi’s.

“Hello!” Aya yelled.

The group turned to face her and Kaoru. 

“Hello!” was chorused at them.

Hagumi dropped the stick and Kanon’s hand and ran towards Kaoru, hugging her tightly. Kaoru had to adjust carefully to avoid nicking Hagumi with her knife.

“Kaoru-kun! And Aya-senpai! Hello!”

The bigger group made their way over to Aya and Kaoru as they sheathed their weapons. It was good to see so many other people, so many other friendlies.

“Have any of you seen Chisato?”  
“No, we haven’t. Was she with you before, or are you just trying to group up with her?”  
“We were with her, Himari-chan, and Lisa-chan earlier, and Chisato-chan just disappeared when she was on watch, so Kaoru and I are trying to find her! Are you sure you haven’t seen her?”  
“We’re sure.”  
“That’s super sad! Why did you leave Himari-chan and Lisa-chan behind though? Shouldn’t they be with you?”  
“Alas, Himari-chan broke her ankle-”  
“We don’t know that it’s broken, Kaoru-san. She can’t stand on it though, so we left Lisa-chan to guard her.”  
“That’s a good idea!”  
“Where were you guys? We’re just heading up to the lake north of here.”  
“We were on the beach directly east of here, assuming we are where I think we are.”  
“I told you we should’ve gone to the beach!”

Aya sighed. She realized that in order to find Chisato, they might have to leave this group behind. She wasn’t particularly close to anyone in it, but she knew it’d bother Kaoru.

“Actually, do you want to come to the beach with us? I feel kinda bad for leaving Himari there.”  
“Awww, but we were going to check out the lake! Can we go there first and just see if it’s a good place to be? We can help Himari over here if it’s good, right?”  
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave Himari-chan with just one person for too long, but the lake seems like our best bet for clean water, and we really need that…”  
“She’s right. How long since you guys left?”  
“We left just a bit after the morning announcements. It’s been a while, ahahaha…”  
“We could send some people after Himari-chan and Lisa-san and some people to the lake then? That way we can do both at the same time!”

* * *

The discord voted to scope out the lake before addressing Himari and Lisa

* * *

“I don’t think splitting up is a good idea…”  
“Tsugumi has a point, splitting up this soon without even knowing if we can set up a new base to meet at would be a mistake.”  
“If the lake’s a bust, we can go stay where Himari and Lisa are! I think we should at least check the lake first.”  
“I-I agree with Kasumi-chan…”  
“M-me too… maybe we’ll meet Chisato-chan there?”

God Aya hoped so. She felt much safer in amongst so many friendlies, she wanted everyone to be together again. She wanted to meet Maya and Eve and Hina again. She hoped she’d find them soon.

“Are we agreed then? To go to the lake?”

Everyone nodded.

“It would seem that the kittens have reached a consensus.”  
“Can we take a break first though? My legs are killing me.”


	17. Rinko Did it Again/Track-Tracking Tomoe

Rinko was practicing with her bow again, with Yukina paying close attention. She wasn’t nearly as good as Sayo, but she’d tried. Gifted this boon, she had to keep going.

She notched another arrow, aiming at a tree knot. She missed, but still hit the tree. Yukina dutifully retrieved the arrow for her as she drew another from the quiver. She set it up, aiming once more for the knot in the tree.

“Yukina-san, do you thi-”

A crunch from her left. Rinko automatically turned, loosing the projectile as she did so.

* * *

The discord had a timed poll with a certain number of votes to reach in order for Rinko’s arrow to not cause immediate severe harm. They succeeded.

* * *

Rinko heard a screech. Oh no. Had she hit a friendly?

“I-I-I’M SORRY!” Rinko yelled, rushing to the source of the noise.

She found a party of 7 surrounding an 8th, Rimi Ushigome. An arrow was lodged in her left forearm. It wasn’t bleeding much, probably barely even in there, but it must’ve really hurt. 

Rimi was still screaming, and the others were crowded around her providing reassurance.

“Ushigome-san… I’m so sorry!”

Aya turned to her, eyeing her bow.

“That was you, then?”  
“I-it was an accident, I swear! You… startled me while I was practicing… an-and I accidentally fired, and I’m really sorry.”  
“She says it’s an accident, Aya, we should believe her. She didn’t keep shooting.”

Even if she had meant it, she wouldn’t’ve shot so carelessly at a group of 8 at the same level as her. She pushed that thought out of her mind.

Tsugumi, Hagumi, and Saya all caught each other reaching for their medical supplies. 

“I’ll give her panadol, you two can get the arrow out, ok?”  
“I wanna help!”  
“Kasumi, you can hold her still.”  
“Ah, it pains me to see a kitten in such distress. Allow me to calm you, Rimi-chan.”

Kaoru knelt behind Rimi with Kasumi and started petting Rimi’s hair. Rimi stopped screaming, whimpering instead.

“It’ll only hurt for a little bit, ok?” Tsugumi said, fetching Rimi’s waterbottle and administering two tablets of panadol.

“Should we wait until it kicks in? Hagumi doesn’t want to hurt Rimi-rin…”  
“The sooner it’s out, the sooner we can patch it up. You’ve got some betadine, right?”  
“Mhm!”  
“Alright, let’s apply that then.”

Rinko watched helplessly as the group tended to Rimi. They weren’t being aggressive towards her, even though they could easily overpower her and Yukina.

Aya, having no room to do anything, walked up to Rinko and Yukina.

“You’re a pretty good shot!”  
“I-I didn’t… mean to, I just-”  
“I know.”  
“Do you?” Yukina said flatly.  
“Yeah! I mean, it’s obvious you weren’t hunting us, and you felt bad enough to come forwards and even apologize, so it’s fine! You could’ve picked us all off if you’d retreated far enough, but you didn’t.”

This… this was unusual. Rinko didn’t know Aya very well, but this was extremely uncharacteristic of her. Had she… had she snapped already?

“Maruyama-san, are you-” 

Yukina’s words were cut off by an ear-piercing scream.

The arrow was out, and Aya retrieved it, bringing it back to Rinko.

“You probably want this back, right?”

* * *

Control switch to Tomoe

* * *

Everyone was relatively refreshed when they arrived at the clearing, having had a break mere minutes before at Tomoe’s own insistence.

“Look, a fire! No doubt used to uh… seek the guidance of a great demon with an offering!”  
“I think it was just a regular fire, and it’s out now.”  
“Clearly, the ritual was performed at night, when the barrier between hell and the mortal realm is... um…”  
“At it’s weakest, allowing ease of contact that the light of day simply cannot provide?”  
“Yes! Thanks, onee-chan.”  
“... Anyway-”  
“This means people were here! Should we look for them?”  
“They’re trying to kill us, O-tae.”  
“You can’t prove that.”  
“We’re in a death game! We’re literally tasked with killing everyone else!”

Tomoe noticed that Ran was staying silent, as always.

“So do we try to find the people who were here? It might’ve been our bandmates, right? I wanna see Rin-rin and Yukina-san and Lisa-nee and Sayo-san.”  
“And we want to find Himari and Tsugumi, and you two want to find Kasumi, Rimi, and Saya, right?”  
“Right. Yeah. So we’re going to try and look for whoever camped here then?”  
“Yup~”  
“Let’s search for clues then, gang!”

Ran nodded.

They each looked through the campsite in sections of their own.

“How many people were here? It seems like a lot.”  
“More than 2.”  
“Duh, Moca. I mean exactly.”  
“Looks like 5 or 6?”  
“It is! I found some tracks.”

Tomoe pat Ako’s head, proud of her for having found something so important.

“They really weren’t trying to cover them, huh.”  
“Ran’s right, they made it really obvious. Probably a trap.”  
“Or they want to get into a bigger group for safety. You can’t keep assuming the worst of people.”  
“In a death game? Yes I can.”  
“She’s got a point, but let’s look at it this way: We’re from 3 out of the 5 bands, and bands are going to stick together, right? It’s most likely people from Afterglow, Poppin’Party, or Roselia. Even if it is a trap, we can count on our bandmates so far.”  
“Moca can’t do maths, Ran~”

With 9 bandmates and 9 non-bandmates, it was about half-half on which bands were in a given group of six. Ran wasn’t quite right on it being mostly bandmates, but Tomoe didn’t want to worry anyone and raise tensions, especially since those from other bands were almost excessively friendly prior to separating.

“Let’s go!”  
“Yeah!”  
“Yay!”


	18. Too Much Exposition for Moca/Maya Mobbed by Bandmates

“So neither of you have seen Chisato either then?”  
“I certainly haven’t. Did you see her before we met up, Rinko?”  
“N-no… I’m sorry… I hope you find her…”  
“A shame. Ah, how fleeting memory be…”

Tsugumi wasn’t sure she was saying that properly, but it didn’t matter. Kaoru had Rimi in her lap, patting the top of her head like one would a real kitten. It was cute!

“Does this place seem good to you two? We were thinking about setting up here, because of the readily available water.”  
“Where were you before?”  
“South side of the mountain! I wanted to go to the beach, and then we found out that Lisa-senpai and Himari-chan were on a different beach, and then we came here anyway!”  
“I… I see…”  
“Oh, right! Lisa-senpai and Hii-chan! Do we go get her now, or-”  
“AHOY~” came a shouting of four distinct voices.

That sounded like Tomoe and Moca! And Ako! And… Tae?

The group turned to face the incoming crowd. As predicted, Tomoe, Moca, Ako, and Tae, accompanied by Ran and Arisa. What a party!

Tsugumi stood and jogged towards her bandmates. Afterglow was pretty much all accounted for now!

Tomoe and Moca swept her up in a hug, Ako joining too, as well as a hesitant Ran.

Tsugumi could hear Poppin’Party having a similar exchange beside them, but her face was too full of Moca to see it.

“Rimi, what happened to your arm??”  
“Rinko-chan shot it with an arrow!”  
“Accidentally!”

Tsugumi could hear Ran trying not to cry, and wrapped her arm tighter around the vocalist.

“Tonight, ok?”  
“Mm.”

They broke apart after Ako ran to Yukina and Rinko to hug them.

“So what happened?” Ran and Arisa asked, almost perfectly in-sync.

Tsugumi looked at Saya, who looked back. They nodded.

“Well, 6 of us were a group to begin with. That’s me, Rimi, Kasumi, Kanon, Hagumi, and Tsugumi-”  
“So those are whose tracks we found!”  
“Yep! We deliberately left them there so that people like you guys could find us.”  
“We decided we had to go somewhere else so that we could make bread, and the lake seemed like a good choice.”  
“That’s when we met up with Seta-senpai and Aya-san, who are looking for Chisato-san, and who had left Himari-chan and Lisa-senpai back at the beach.”  
“You know where Hii-chan is?”  
“Yeah! She hurt her ankle, so we left Lisa-chan to look after her while we search for Chisato.”  
“Ahhh, I see.”  
“When we got here, we met Rinko and Yukina. We were just talking about whether to stay here and bring Lisa and Himari here-”  
“Or go to them. We’re not sure if Rinko and Yukina want to stay grouped with us though.”  
“I see. Thank you.”  
“Tsugu, Saya~ That was too much exposition~”  
“What do you mean? You didn’t already know all of that, did you?”

Moca makes one of her patented faces.

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want to go find Himari.”

* * *

Here the discord voted for them to split up and send a group to fetch Himari and Lisa while the rest stayed at the lake

* * *

“And I want to go find Lisa.”  
“Should we all go?”  
“I think it’s best to make camp here, so we can just send a few people to fetch them.”  
“Sounds good.”  
“Sounds alright I guess. So who’s coming with me?”  
“I am.”  
“Ok, so Yukina’s in. Whatever. Tomoe?”  
“I’m probably the strongest here, if anyone can carry Himari it’s me. I’ll go.”  
“I want to go with Onee-chan and Yukina-san, I’m coming too! Rin-rin?”  
“I want… to go with Ako-chan and Yukina-san too…”

Tsugumi wanted to go with them, but she was conflicted. Surely Saya could handle things here though, right?

“Moca-chan wants to go too~”  
“You coming too then, Tsugumi? Might as well all go together.”  
“Me? Sure!”  
“Should one of us accompany you? We know where they are, so it’d be easier.”  
“I think we’ve got enough coming with us, Maruyama-san. This is 7 of the 16 of us. Just point it out on the map, we’re capable.”  
“Oh, ok!! Sure!”

Aya pulled out her map and conferred with Kaoru to make sure they had the right spot. She then showed the fetch party, who made small marks on their maps on where current camp is and where Himari and Lisa should be.

And so the 7 of them set off, waving goodbye to their friends. Tsugumi hoped she’d get to see them again.

* * *

Control switch to Maya

* * *

Maya squinted. She thought she’d seen something at the edge of the beach, but she wasn’t sure. She adjusted her glasses .

“Sayo-san, I think I’ve found something.”  
“Oh?”  
“Yeah, see ahead of us? It might be Hina!”

Maya attempted to focus better on it, sensing Sayo do the same next to her.

“I think you’re right. There’s a blob of teal and a blob of white, so I’m guessing it’s Wakamiya-san with her.”  
“Eve??!?”

Maya cupped her hands in front of her face.

“Yamato-san, what’re you-”  
“AHOY!!!” She yelled.

The figures bolted up.

“AHOY!!!”

Yup, that was Eve alright. Maya hopped into a jog, then a run, then flat-out sprinting.

“Yamato-san, wait!”

Maya could hear Sayo struggling to catch up behind her, but that didn’t matter. She could see them clearly now, Eve and Hina, also running towards them.

Maya can’t help but think about being stabbed by one of them. What if they’d snapped? What if Maya had snapped? What if Sayo had snapped?

* * *

The discord had a poll to determine whether a stabbing happens or not. Stabbing will not occur at this time.

* * *

Since Maya’s well in front of Sayo, she got mobbed by both Eve and Hina first. They almost knocked each other over. Almost.

As soon as Sayo got close enough, Hina ran to her twin, wrapping her arms around her and lifting her off the ground slightly.

“Hina! Put me down.”  
“Ehehe, ok!”

Maya and Eve separated, holding hands.

“Eve-san… I missed you. I’m glad you’re ok.”  
“I’m glad you’re ok too, Maya-chan!”  
“Can I… can I have a kiss, please?”

Eve obliged.

“Ooh! Ooh! My turn, please!”  
“Alright Hina-san!”

Maya kissed Hina, who kissed back with enthusiasm.

“So have you found anyone else?”  
“We were with Okusawa-san before, she’s making camp for us right now. Have you?”

Eve coughs.

“Um… yeah, kinda. You heard the announcement, right?”  
“The one saying that Tsurumaki-san died?”  
“Yeah…”  
“You two didn’t have anything to do with that, did you?”  
“No, no! Of course not! We’re not murderers!”  
“So what happened?”  
“We… we found her body. We think she was bitten by an octopus.”  
“An octopus?”  
“Oh, I know this one. Probably a blue-ringed octopus, right?”  
“Yeah, she was carrying a bunch of shells, which she dropped when she got caught by the net, it was probably hiding in one of them.”  
“Right. So you found her dead in the net?”  
“Yeah. We cut the net to let her out and then Eve-chan examined her corpse and figured out that she was poisoned. We buried her last night.”

So Kokoro really was dead, then.

“Where is she?”  
“We made camp by her grave, it’s just over here by that palm tree.”  
“I see.”  
“So you said about Misaki-chan? What’s happening with her?”  
“She and Sayo-san rescued me when I got hit by a dart trap, and we’ve been hanging out on the south side of the island. I wanted to come find you guys though, so Sayo-san accompanied me while Okusawa-san is making camp.”

* * *

Here the discord voted for everyone to go to Misaki’s camp.

* * *

“We should probably get back to her soon. Wakamiya-san, are you coming with us?”  
“Mhm! It’s getting dark though, are you sure we shouldn’t camp here?”  
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay so close to a grave, it might mess with our heads…”  
“So we’ll make use of what light we have left to move closer to Misaki. Are we good with this?”  
“Yes ma’am!”  
“Excellent. Pack your things, Hina, Wakamiya-san. We’re heading off now.”


	19. The First Chapter Where Mod Gets Bribed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Death incoming. Just a warning for a graphic description.

Ako was walking happily next to her sister and best friend when the announcement came through a hidden speaker on her right.

“It is now 7pm! Congratulations to the 24 of you for surviving another 12 hours. Nobody has died between 7am and now.”

So nobody had died since this morning, huh? Ako was glad. Everyone in her group stopped to listen.

“Oh, but we have a special announcement! We’ve been running a timer that we thought we’d tell you about today, since it’s far more relevant now. If nobody dies for four of the bi-daily scheduled announcements in a row, 2 of you girls will be chosen at random and sniped! For it to count, it doesn’t matter if it’s a murder, accident, or suicide, as long as somebody dies!”

Ako laughed nervously. She’s bluffing, right?

“It’s been 2 of the bi-daily announcements since Kokoro Tsurumaki died, meaning that you have 2 left for someone to die before 2 of you get sniped. I’ll see you in the morning, and in the meantime, happy killing!”

* * *

The discord had a few choices here. They could vote to “call Marina’s bluff”, have someone murdered, decide that it was someone else’s problem, or have someone commit suicide. They voted for a member of this group to kill themself as a self-sacrifice. They tied Ran and Yukina.

* * *

Nobody spoke for a long time.

“I.. don’t think that now… is the time to discuss this…”  
“I agree, we should discuss this when we get to Himari and Lisa tomorrow.”  
“Yeah.”  
“I think we all need some time to process it before we do anything rash.”  
“Yep~”  
“Do we just make camp then?”  
“It would seem so. It’s getting dark anyway.”  
“Same as always.”

* * *

Control switch to Ran

* * *

Ran sat on watch with Yukina. Moca, Tomoe, Tsugumi, Ako, and Rinko were sleeping peacefully on their towels by the fire.

Ran sighed.

“Something the matter?”  
“Can we go a bit further out and patrol for a while?”  
“Sure.”

Yukina and Ran got up from their stations on the log and started circling the camp in a wide loop.

“I want to die.”  
“What a coincidence, so do I.”  
“I’m being serious, Minato-san. I don’t want to be alive any longer.”  
“As am I, Mitake-san. I no longer wish to live.”

Ran ducked to evade a spiderweb, and Yukina did the same.

“I just… I don’t want the people I care about to be sniped like some kind of animal, y’know?”  
“I… the thought of that deeply perturbs me as well, which is why I want to end my life. If I can protect my girlfriends and bandmates I’ll do it. Nobody needs me.”

Ran focused on the soft crunches of their footsteps. They’d been walking for several minutes now, she wasn’t sure quite how many. The air was heavy.

“So we’re martyrs now, huh? Guess that fits.”  
“Indeed.”

The soft crunches were drowned out by a sound from above.

“Do you hear that?”  
“What, the helicopter?”  
“Yeah…”  
“What of it?”  
“Probably nothing.”  
“I doubt it, it’s hovering right above us.”

They stopped, staring up at the black silhouette whirring above them. A new silhouette started floating down towards them.

A gift?

It landed with a soft thunk.

“Should I open it?”  
“Go ahead.”

Ran cut the tape sealing the box, knife glinting in the moonlight. She opened the flaps, revealing… bubble-wrap? She pulled at the bubble-wrap, uncovering two phials of cloudy white liquid.

“Looks like they heard us.”  
“That was quick. Is there a note?”  
“Does it matter?”  
“I think it does.”

Ran put the phials to the side and searched the box more thoroughly.

“Oh. there’s a card.”  
“Can you read it?”  
“Gimme a second, jeez.”

Ran held it up to the moonlight as the helicopter buzzed off.

“Deadly poison.”  
“Well, I suppose we don’t have to stab ourselves.”  
“And there’s enough for the both of us…”

She handed one to Yukina to inspect.

“Before we do this, Minato-san, I want you to know that I actually…”  
“Actually..?”  
“I kinda liked you. Kinda.”  
“Ran… you’re a beautiful being, and it’s an honour to die beside you for such a noble cause.”  
“For our friends and girlfriends…”  
“For us?”  
“For everyone.”  
“For everyone.”

Ran and Yukina uncorked the phials and linked arms, virtually ensuring that they would both drink at the same time.

“Mitake-san, would you do the honours and count us out?”  
“Of course.”

They locked gazes almost lovingly.

“A-one, a-two, a-one two three four!”

On the count of four, their arms raised perfectly in-sync and they downed the liquids.

* * *

The discord rolled a d4 to determine whose were poison, with 2/4 options being that both were poison. Only Ran’s is poison.

* * *

It tasted slightly bitter, which Yukina must’ve detested, but both dutifully drank until the phials were empty.

“Are you feeling anything?”  
“Nope.”  
“Hm.”  
“Do we wait here until it kicks in?”  
“I don’t see why not. Is there anywhere you’d rather be?”  
“No.”

Yukina sat at the base of a tree and gestured for Ran to do the same. Ran sat, and as she did, she started to feel a tingling in her throat.

“Excuse me one moment.”  
“Of course.”

Ran immediately got up, sprinted a few trees away, and vomited. She heaved until it hurt, and then heaved some more. 

Empty and dizzy, she made her way back to Yukina.

“You still good?”  
“Suspiciously so.”  
“Do you think Marina’s enough of a bitch to only poison one of them?”  
“Quite probably.”  
“Motherfucker!” She said, just quiet enough to not wake her sleeping companions.  
“Relax. It might just be that it’s taking longer for me to process it.”  
“Maybe so. Alright, I guess we’re waiting it out still.”

Ran had tears in her eyes. She felt like she was on fire. It was hard to even move. She could barely speak, her throat ruined by the vomit. She was crying now, sobs wracking her body, eyes stinging with the tears, struggling to even breathe.

Every second felt like an eon. Maybe they were.

Yukina crawled up to her and took her hand. Though her muscles were freezing up, Ran managed to squeeze it.

“You… still going… to die, Minato-san?”  
“I… I don’t think I can. I don’t want it to hurt. I just want to be gone. I want to save my friends, but… I don’t think I can.”

Yukina was weeping too now, and she wiped her tears away with her free hand.

Ran felt betrayed.

“I’d… do it for you… if I had the strength.”

Yukina cowed, but didn’t release Ran’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Mitake-san. I didn’t want it to happen like this.”  
“It’s not… your fault…”

Ran could barely move her mouth now, barely hold her head up. She couldn’t move her arms or legs. Couldn’t they just have killed her instantly? Surely there had to be something that could do that, right? It hurt so much… 

Her vocals-trained diaphragm spasmed desperately now, trying to force her lungs to operate. She just wanted to die already.

And then she did.


	20. Moca's Melancholy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another death incoming. Graphic description again.

“Moca-chan. Moca-chan please wake up.”

Tsugu’s voice, whispering at her. Moca cracked an eye open. The sun hadn’t even started to rise yet.

“Moca, it’s important. Ran’s dead.”

No way. She pulled at her face, dragging her hands down her cheeks.

“Eh?”  
“Ran. She died.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“She drank poison. Please wake up properly, I don’t want us to wake up Ako and Shirokane-san.”  
“Alright, pull me up.”

Moca put her hands up and Tsugumi and Tomoe tugged at them until Moca staggered to her feet.

“Ok, where is she?”  
“Moca-chan, I don’t think it’s a good idea to see her body-”  
“No, I wanna see her~”  
“Moca-chan-”  
“Tsugu, we should let her. For closure, y’know?”  
“Ok. Yukina-senpai showed us where she is, so let’s go there now, ok?”  
“Wait, Minato-san did this?”  
“It was an accident!”  
“Sure it was~”  
“Moca, you’re going to wake the others-”  
“She and Ran were rivals, and you expect me to believe that she didn’t mean to kill her?”  
“Moca-chan you know it was more complicated than that! They tried to commit suicide together!”  
“And why would they do that? Why would Ran leave us?”  
“Moca, I’m sure she had her reasons, please don’t cause a ruckus-”  
“I don’t care~ Ran’s dead, and it doesn’t matter~ We need to know.”  
“Moca, this isn’t like you.”  
“And it isn’t like Ran to be dead. Wake up, everyone~!”

Rinko stirred.

“Wh-what’s... going on?”  
“Ran was killed~”  
“By herself! She drank poison with Yukina-senpai!”  
“But… Yukina-san’s right here…”  
“That’s because it didn’t fucking work. Where do you think we got the poison from?”  
“I don’t fucking know~”  
“Marina-san dropped them to us, labeling them as “deadly poison”. Only one turned out to be poison.”  
“Wait, Yukina-san, why were you drinking poison?!?”  
“Ran and I formed a suicide pact to protect everyone. We didn’t want people we love to be sniped at random.”  
“I see. That makes sense.”  
“The hell it does~ Ran wouldn’t leave me, right?”  
“Moca, she was trying to protect you.”  
“By killing herself?”  
“Yes. Moca-chan, she wanted us to be safe…”

Tears pricked at Moca’s eyes.

“Take us to see the body.”  
“I don’t think… it’s a good idea… for everyone to see a corpse…”

* * *

Here the discord voted for who should be taken to see the body. They voted that Ako and Rinko should stay at camp.

* * *

“Then stay.”  
“I- I don’t know, I-”  
“Ako-chan, you don’t… want to see this, and… I don’t either. We… have to trust them…”  
“I can raise her from the dead with my uh- my dark power, and um-”  
“Ako-chan…”  
“Can we go then~?”  
“Of course, Aoba-san.”  
“Moca, please stay by me, ok?”  
“I don’t need your protection, Tomo-chin~”  
“Please?”  
“Fine.”

Moca, Tsugumi, Tomoe, and Yukina set off into the moonlit bushland. It didn’t take long for Yukina to guide them to Ran’s corpse, despite how dark it was.

“Ran~”

Ran lay on the forest floor, arms folded carefully, holding an empty phial. She wasn’t moving and wasn’t breathing when Moca strode up to her and crouched beside her.

Moca grasped Ran’s upper torso and pulled it into her lap. It was limp and heavy in her hands.

“Ran~”

Moca bent further and planted a small kiss on Ran’s corpse’s cooling cheek.

“Moca, that’s-”

But Moca didn’t want to listen. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen a corpse, and it wouldn’t be the last. She’d been there when they found her uncle in the bathroom, frothy vomit around his mouth. He’d been dead for a while by the time they got the door open. She was 13 at the time, and she understood that he’d overdosed on his prescription medication intentionally.

Her uncle had been ugly, though. Not like her Ran, gorgeous even in death. Though it was hard to see her in the low light of the moon, Moca knew.

“Um, Moca-chan-”

* * *

Here the discord voted for Tomoe to carry Ran’s corpse back to camp.

* * *

“How about we bring Ran back with us? Does that sound ok?”

Moca was staring at Ran’s unmoving lips.

“Okay~”  
“Do you need a hand, Tomoe-chan?”  
“Nah, she’s pretty light, remember?”

Tomoe stepped up to take Ran out of Moca’s hands, and Moca hesitated for a moment before giving in. Tomoe slung Ran over her shoulders.

“She’s heavier than I remember!”  
“Tomoe-chan that’s not very nice-”  
“She’s just not co-operating now that she’s dead. That’s all. It’s normal.”

And she would know? Of course she would. Creepy fuck.

They started walking back to camp, and Moca kept switching her gaze between Ran’s corpse and Yukina’s back. Tomoe was distracted, and Tsugumi couldn’t stop her. Moca unsheathed her knife, hiding it from Tomoe.

Yukina was right in front of her. She could slit her throat from behind or she could stab her in the back from here before anyone could do anything about it, right? Or maybe she could tackle her and slash her stomach open? She was no master assassin, but she could do that much, right? Just like in the manga?

* * *

Here the discord voted for Moca to stab Yukina in the back.

* * *

Moca didn’t have time for hesitation. She lunged forward, aiming for Yukina’s open back.

But… she missed.

Everyone stopped walking, including Moca. Yukina turned to her attacker and decked her, punching hard. Moca stumbled with the blow, and retaliated with a blind slash. On the back-swing, Yukina caught her wrist.

“Aoba-san, stop.”  
“Moca-chan, what are you doing?”

Moca kicked Yukina, freeing her wrist. She lunged again at Yukina, who barely managed to dodge in time.

“Oi, Moca!”  
“Moca-chan!”

Moca turned to face her bandmates. Tomoe was sliding Ran to the ground carefully and Tsugumi was frozen, having retreated a few steps.

Moca felt another blow land on the side of her head, dizzying her. She swung again, hitting something finally.

Hitting something? Had she actually done it this time? Had she hit the bastard finally? Was Ran avenged?

“No! Yukina-senpai!”

A cold sharpness in her side. She looked down, seeing Yukina’s knife maybe a centimeter deep in her side, poised to go further. An arm wrapped around her neck, holding her in place. Her arms were still free, but she was having a hard time trying to make contact with the girl behind her.

Tomoe had finally dropped Ran and was approaching with caution.

“Minato-san, don’t.”  
“Call her off.”  
“Yuki-”  
“Call. Her. Off.”  
“Oi, Moca. Quit it. You’re not helping anyone by doing this.”  
“She wanted to die anyway, why is she trying to live now?”  
“Moca-chan, please stop this!”

Moca almost connected again, straining against the older girl’s grip to do so. That was a mistake. Yukina drove her dagger in further. It wasn’t deep, but it wasn’t nothing.

Tsugumi’s sobs echoed through the area and through Moca’s brain.

Tsugu… 

“Moca, Ran wouldn’t want this. Please stop fighting.”

Moca stopped squirming. Her head ached. She didn’t want to be here, she didn’t want this to be happening. Would Ran want this? Did anything matter at this point?

Yukina released her, dropping her to the ground. Yukina stepped back as Tomoe sprinted forwards.

“Moca! Are you fucking sorry? I mean are you ok? I’m so fucking sorry! I should’ve stopped her!”  
“Leave me alone.” Moca said, choking back tears.  
“What? But you-”  
“Leave me alone. Please.”  
“Do you want more time with Ran? Is that it?”  
“Yeah. P-please just go.”  
“Moca-chan, are you going to be alright?”  
“Moca-chan’s always alright~”

Tomoe sighed.

“Alright. Come back soon, and yell if you need help. We’ll give Ran a proper burial in the morning, ok?”  
“Ok~”  
“Minato-san, we’re leaving.”  
“Alright.”

The three of them started walking off, Tsugumi giving a few worried glances. Moca replied to those with a weak smile and double peace signs. The ringing in her head was getting louder and more annoying by the second, but she didn’t show it.

And then she and Ran were alone.

Moca crawled over to Ran, unsteady even on hands and knees. Tears dripped off her chin and onto the forest floor.

“We all die, you either kill yourself or get killed.” A figure danced in her head. What’s she gonna do? What’s she gonna do? She wants to be with Ran. She doesn’t want to be here any longer. It’s obvious, right?

Right?

She was useless alive. She couldn’t get revenge for Ran, she couldn’t help anyone, she was a drain of money and resources, all she ever did was eat and sleep, she was a drain on everyone’s mental health, she wasn’t good to her friends, she could barely even get her schoolwork done, she didn’t take care of herself,

And before she knew it, she was slitting her wrists. She cut jagged lines vertically down her forearms with her glittering blade. She couldn’t even kill herself properly. 

Shakily, she lay down next to Ran’s body and held her hand, blood steadily pulsing out of her forearm. Everything was throbbing and aching, she could barely keep track of what was happening.

She looked over at Ran. She wanted Ran to be the last thing she saw in this world.

And she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, this wouldn't've happened if the discord hadn't intervened in both of the parts where Yukina was in danger.


	21. Hello Naughty Children it's Puzzle Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The introduction of puzzles happens in this chapter! Join the discord to help solve them! https://discord.gg/vUhqsgr

“Kano-chan-senpai, wake up!”  
“Yeah, Kanon-senpai, wake up! It’s almost time for the announcements!”

Kanon opened her eyes. Looking around, it seemed everyone else was up. Kasumi, Tae, Rimi, Saya, Arisa, Kaoru, Hagumi, and Aya were all nervously sitting or pacing.

“Fuee~”  
“Everyone else is already up, ehehe…”  
“But Kano-chan-senpai just looked so angelic sleeping!” Hagumi says, throwing herself on top of Kanon.

On top of her… Hagumi on top of her… oh dear.

“H-H-Hagumi-chan!”  
“Eh? What’s up?”  
“She wants you to get off, idiot.”

Hagumi pouted. 

It was too early for this.

“W-wait!”

Kanon wrapped her arms around Hagumi.

“Gay!”  
“Tae, we’re all gay.”  
“True. I’m just pointing it out.”

Kanon let her arms drop, Hagumi rolled off of her, and Kanon sat up.

“You said the announcements were soon?”  
“Yeah, we think so. Doesn’t it seem around that time to you?”  
“Fuee… I just woke up, sorry…”  
“I am! If she’s on time, it should be in 3… 2…”

Fireworks exploded overhead. Tae was right.

“It is now 7am! Congratulations to the 22 of you for making it through another 12 hours!”

22?!?

“There are now 22 of you left. Two of you have died last night! Ran Mitake and Moca Aoba are now dead.”

Kasumi, Tae, and Saya seemed the most stunned by this, though it affected everyone.

“Ran-chan?”  
“Moca??”

Kanon was scared. They’d just left yesterday in a big group! What had happened?

“Oh, and we have a special event! We will be dropping people puzzle boxes! These puzzle boxes will contain Michelle Medals, which can be worn or exchanged for supplies! All of you will get one puzzle box each today, containing 1 to 4 medals each.”

Puzzles? Oh dear.

“That’s all the announcements for now. I’ll see you this evening, and in the meantime, happy killing!”

Kanon would definitely not be “happy killing”.

“Puzzles, huh?”  
“Sounds fun! Do you think they’re wordsearches? Or crosswords? Ooh, maybe sudoku!”  
“Kasumi, why and how the fuck would they put that on a box?”  
“I dunno!”  
“I’d do it.”  
“Perhaps they are riddles?”  
“Again, why and how the fuck would they put that on a box?”  
“I agree with Arisa-chan, I don’t think it’s very practical to put those on boxes…”  
“Are those them? In the sky?”  
“I would say so, but let’s wait and see.”

The boxes dropped nearby. They were small and light, and they rattled when shaken. They were metal, though, so they’d be hard to just break apart.

“How do we know whose are whose? They don’t have names on them…”  
“I guess we just pick them at random?”  
“I want this one!”  
“Ok, I’ll take this one!”

Kanon dutifully picked a box, even though she knew she’d never figure out how to open it. Looking up, she saw that everyone had decided to sit on their own and try to figure out their boxes.

“Fuee…”

Kanon decided to go oversee someone else’s box opening. Arisa was closest.

“Is it alright if I watch? I can’t open mine.”  
“Huh? Oh… sure thing.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a cipher puzzle themselves to get Arisa’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

Arisa worked hard on hers, with Kanon trying to take notes. Arisa seemed very frustrated at some points, but after maybe 20 minutes, the lock clicked differently and she pried it open, revealing 3 badges of Michelle’s face.

“Hell yeah! That’s almost the maximum amount I could’ve gotten! I solved it before anyone else! How’s that?”  
“They’re so cute… Well done, Arisa-chan!”  
“Th-thanks…”  
“I was watching the whole time, b-but I still don’t think I can do mine. Would you maybe h-help me? You don’t have to!”  
“Yeah, I mean, I guess I could. Give it here, I’ll help.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a different cipher puzzle themselves to get Kanon’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

This box was easier, and it only seemed to take maybe a quarter of an hour before the lock clicked pleasingly for the two of them.

“Hell yes!!”  
“Yay!”  
“Did you two get a box open?”  
“Arisa-chan got hers and mine open!”  
“Has anyone else gotten theirs?”

A chorus of “No”.

“Arisa~ Solve mine for me~”  
“Solve your own damn box, Kasumi! I’m tired.”  
“We should let her rest her brain, I think she’s done enough.”  
“Can Hagumi see what the Michelle Medals look like at least? Hagumi loves Michelle!”  
“Hagumi-chan, you can see mine!”

Everyone crowded around Kanon as she opened her box, revealing one Michelle Medal.

“Michelle is adorable here!”  
“Michelle is stunning as ever, a perfect little kitten.”  
“She’s so cute!”  
“Shame there’s only one, though.”  
“Fuee…”  
“It’s ok, Kano-chan-senpai! You can have some of mine when we get it open!”  
“And mine as well.”  
“We can all use them as a group!”

Arisa was clipping her medals onto her bag, and Kanon did the same.

“We can keep them if we make our own food and stuff though, right?”  
“Oh! T-that’s right, we were going to make bread.”  
“We’re wasting daylight on these, huh? Ok, should we go gather some of those seeds then?”  
“Yeah!”  
“C-can I stay here please? I can guard the camp, or something.”  
“Of course, Kanon-senpai.”  
“Then I shall stay too.”  
“And me.”  
“Ok, so Kanon-chan, Kaoru-san, and and Arisa-chan are staying at camp?”

A wave of nods hit the group.

“Ok! The rest of us will see you later then!”  
“Before nightfall.”  
“Of course.”


	22. No Use Wasting Good Rum on a Dead Maya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maya doesn't die this chapter, nor does anyone drink rum, the title is referring to her not wanting to use other peoples' supplies.

Hina was working hard with the others to get their boxes open. As soon as she’d heard the announcement, she was excited at the prospect of puzzles she could challenge herself with, and it seemed that the others were as well.

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to get Maya’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

Maya’s had been the first box to click open, revealing 2 Michelle Medals.

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to get Hina’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

Hina’s was the next, containing 4 Michelle Medals. 

“That’s very lucky, Hina-san!”  
“There is no luck, only chance and skill.”  
“I think it’s good that we have so many now though!”  
“‘We’?”  
“I mean, Hina-san’s going to use hers for the good of the team, right? So they’re basically ours.”  
“Of course I’m sharing with you guys! I think Onee-chan’s just being cautious about it. We can keep our own to ourselves and just use them for the team when the time comes, alright?”  
“Sounds good!”  
“... Fine.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to get Eve’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

Eve’s came after that, revealing 1 Michelle Medal after the now-familiar click sounded.

Maya seemed really worried about that, even though they’d said they’d all share. She usually only shifted like this when they’re in the changing rooms though, so what gives?

“Yamato-san.”  
“Uhhhh… yes?”  
“Why are you shifting like that?”  
“Yeah Maya-chan, what gives? You’re usually only like this when we’re changing.”  
“You-you noticed??”  
“Well yeah.”  
“I noticed it too, Maya-san.”  
“I’m just worried a little bit, it’s nothing.”

Maya looked even more stressed and uncomfortable.

“Maya-chan, do you need a hug?”  
“... Mm.”

Hina embraced her and earned a hiss from Maya.

“Oh no! Did I hurt you?”  
“Sayo-san, was Maya-san injured before?”  
“Only by two darts, it shouldn’t be quite this uncomfortable for her unless they did more serious damage than I thought.”  
“I’m fine, seriously!”

Hina put on her concerned sad face, Eve did the same, and Sayo… Sayo made an attempt.

“May we see?”  
“The darts? They’re covered by bandaids anyway, you know that, so there’s really no reason-”  
“Maya-chan…”  
“I-I just want Eve to have a better chance, so…”  
“Then she can have some of my medals!”  
“One.”  
“One of my medals!”  
“But that doesn’t explain why you hissed when Hina hugged you.”  
“Maya-san, are you hurt?”  
“If something needs medical attention, show it. You can’t get an infection in a place like this, it’s not safe.”

Maya looked like she was about to bolt, so Hina held her hand firmly. Maya laughed nervously.

“Maya-san, we love you. Please show us.”  
“Please~?”  
“Are you sure you want to see?”

Hina, Eve, and Sayo nodded. Maya nodded too, psyching herself up. She lifted her shirt up to her ribs, revealing Sayo’s bandaid and something else. 

Something worse. 

Cuts. 

Looking some more, there were a few on her lower stomach, too.

“I couldn’t go any lower or higher because there of the cameras, huhehe.”  
“Maya-chan, how long have you been doing this?”  
“... A few months. My parents have been fighting a lot… my dad cheated on my mum and whenever I try to intervene they take it out on me. I… I go days without talking to either of them. The things they said in anger… I know I shouldn’t believe them, but I don’t have the self-esteem to not. It’s usually uh. Higher up and lower down than this, but again, cameras.”  
“Why higher up and lower down?”  
“Hina, you’ve seen our costumes. I have to make sure nobody sees, and there are very few places I can get away with when our arms and legs and even bellies are on display.”  
“So that’s why you’re uncomfortable in the changing rooms! And why you go so slow with us!”  
“Hina!”  
“What? Oh. Right. Sorry!”

Hina leaned in closer. The cuts weren’t super deep, but they sure as shit weren’t grazes.

“Onee-chan, do you have any bandaids?”  
“Please, use mine. She already used some of hers on me. It’ll make me feel bad if we waste someone else’s supplies.”  
“Maya-san, can you lie down for us? We need better access.”  
“Does anyone have betadine? Something similar would do well as well. Unfortunately all I thought to bring was Panadol, along with the bandaids.”  
“I have some, Sayo-san.”  
“Eve-san, don’t. I have some too.”

Hina pulled out Maya’s bandaids and betadine.

“These are super adorbs, Maya-chan! I love the giraffe one and the hippo one and the meerkat one and the lion one and the zebra one and the-”  
“We get it, Hina. Just bring them here.”  
“Ok!”

Maya winced at the application of the betadine. It took 4 bandaids to cover all the big lacerations, which was worrying.

“I usually don’t manage to cut even that deep, these knives are really sharp. Plus they have handles, which makes them easier to maneuver.”  
“Please be careful, Maya-san.”  
“I know. Thanks for not freaking out, I really appreciate it.”  
“I don’t really know much about it, but panic is no good on the battlefield!”  
“Huhehe, I suppose this is a battlefield, huh? I don’t really understand why you guys are helping me, but thanks, I guess?”  
“We don’t want you to die, Maya-san. We love you!”  
“But I want me to die. Well, not really. I don’t want to be here, and dying is the only way to do that. I’m scared to kill myself, but I figure if I just let myself die that’s fine. Does-does that make sense? Sorry if this is too sad, I just... I can't help it right now.”  
“Sounds like classic major depression to me. Yamato-san, you should see a therapist…”

Sayo would know, and so would Hina. They were both at risk of bipolar disorder thanks to their genetics, so they’d been through more resources on it than the average Japanese person. Neither of them had been diagnosed, of course. They weren’t sure, and at their age it was hard to diagnose disorders like that anyway unless they were particularly disruptive. Of course, it could be that-

“Hina?”  
“Hmm?”  
“We’re going back to Okusawa-san now, ok?”  
“We’re not looking for Aya-chan and Chisato-chan?”  
“She’s expecting us. We can look for them once we regroup.”  
“You don’t want to be away from her~” Hina teased.

Sayo blushed.

“It’s not like that.”  
“Ohhh, it’s not like that yet.”  
“Exactly.”  
“!!”  
“Wait, I didn’t mean that-”

Hina smirked. So Sayo had yet another love interest, huh? And someone from a different band, at that!

“Um. Can we go now?”  
“You sure you’re good to walk?”  
“I’ll be fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way I will beat incest shippers to death with their own teeth, especially if they interact with this. Sayo and Hina are siblings. The do not love each other romantically or sexually.


	23. Aya's Allergies/Chisato Gets a Gun

* * *

The discord voted for Kasumi, Tae, Rimi, Saya, Hagumi, and Aya to leave their puzzle boxes with Arisa, Kaoru, and Kanon

* * *

“Hey hey, Saya, is this the right kind of grass?”  
“Let’s see… what does it look like?”  
“Well, it’s in a big bunch, it’s very long, and right at the end it has strings of seeds!”  
“Very good description, Hagumi!”  
“Can confirm: Long with about 5 little strings of seeds on the end!”  
“Thank you, O-Tae. I’m looking through the handbook, gimme a second.”  
“Ok!”

Hagumi hoped this was the right one. They hadn’t been walking for very long, but it’d be great if it was super close to camp!

“Looks like that’s called ‘Windmill grass’, and it’s not used in damper… I think. Let me check the damper entry, actually!”  
“Saya-chan, I think you said that the damper entry is on page 38!”  
“Thank you, Aya! Ah yes. Ok, so what we’re looking for is Spinifex, Millet, and… oh, and Wattleseed.”  
“Oh? What’s wattleseed?”

Saya flipped through more pages. This was tedious!

“I don’t see wattleseed, but I think it just means ‘seeds of the wattle plant’, which I can find. It’s also called Acacia, and this one’s actually a type of tree!”  
“Ooh, so we’re looking for trees too now?”  
“Nice.”  
“What kind of tree are we looking for here, Saya-chan?”  
“Well there are a few words I don’t totally understand, but they have a lot of puffy little yellow flowers. Come look at the diagram, I think it’ll explain better.”

Hagumi bounded back over to Saya and peered carefully at the book along with Kasumi, Tae, Rimi, and Aya. It was a bit crowded!

Having had a good look, Hagumi scanned the area.

“Is that it?” She said, pointing westwards towards a very yellow tree.  
“Probably. It’s too convenient to not.”  
“Let’s go look before we judge though, ok O-Tae?”  
“Ok~”

They arrived at the tree Hagumi had pointed them towards, compared it to the diagram, and it was indeed an acacia/wattle tree. Hagumi was proud of herself.

“W-well done, Hagumi-chan!”  
“Thanks Rimi-rin!”

Saya gave her a pat on the head, which Hagumi leaned into. Aya sneezed.

“Aya-senpai, is something wrong?”  
“I think I’m allergic or something, my eyes are watering and my nose is kinda itchy?”  
“Ah, it did say something about that, huh? Do you want to go sit out while we collect these?”  
“N-no, I should be fine, ehehe~”  
“If you’re sure.”

* * *

Perspective change to Chisato

* * *

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to open Chisato’s box. They succeeded.

* * *

Chisato had taken off Michelle when she got her box and sat patiently trying combinations until she got it. Opening it, she was greeted by 4 gleaming faces that matched the head beside her.

* * *

Here the discord voted for Chisato to trade one of her Michelle Medals

* * *

She raised her voice.

“I would like to trade one of my medals for supplies.”

It was a while before a response came from… somewhere.

“Chisato Shirasagi, you would like to trade one of your Michelle Medals for randomly-chosen supplies?”  
“Yes.”  
“Stand by. When the helicopter drops the line, attach your badge firmly to it. Do not attempt to climb the line. Understood?”  
“Understood.”

Blades whirred over her head as the helicopter dropped the line. As instructed, Chisato firmly attached one Michelle Medal and watched it rise into the belly of the vehicle.

* * *

I used a dicebot and a secret loot table to determine the sick loot that Chisato gets. She rolled a 94.

* * *

Two boxes parachuted gently onto the beach in front of her. Kneeling down, she took her blade to the tape of the first one, cutting neatly and precisely.

Inside was a typed note. It read:

Package Code 94  
2/2  
Congratulations on your new revolver ammunition. (:

There was a case inside, which contained securely cushioned clips of bullets. Opening the other box revealed a similar sight, but with the firearm itself. It wasn’t anything big or fancy, just a simple pistol revolver with 6 empty chambers. 

Perfect for Russian roulette, she thought.

Though, looking closer, it did have an oddly large grip and trigger. Chisato reached her arm into Michelle’s and tried to grasp the gun with the gloved white hand. 

It worked. Marina and the others had made it operable by Michelle as well as normal humans. They’d even included a belt and holster that could be adjusted to fit Michelle. They’d really thought ahead.

Chisato did up the holster belt around the pink beast and loaded the gun. 18 bullets in 3 clips became 12 in 2 as she loaded up the bullets into the 6 chambers of the cylinder.

Chisato wondered how Kaoru would react to seeing Michelle holding a gun. Would she even think it real?

No matter. She’d find out once she got back to camp. She was almost there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe Chisato got a gun. She was far more likely to just get food, statistically, but I guess I'm changing plans now, huh.


	24. Isn't the twitching supposed to stop?/Puzzle Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A warning for graphic violence and death

“Himari, look! I caught another one~”  
“Yay! You’re so cool, Lisa-senpai~”

Lisa grinned as she knifed the fish dead and put it in the net-pouch that had been packed in her backpack. That made two just this morning!

“I think I’m gonna take a break, I’m heading ba-”

* * *

The discord had to reach a certain number of votes in a certain time period for Michelle to miss her first shot. They succeeded.

* * *

A gunshot. A puff of sand. A scream. A pink shape getting closer.

Michelle? Michelle, holding a pistol, walking closer as she aimed, prepared to shoot again.

How had neither of them noticed Michelle?

Lisa ran out of the shallows almost without thinking.

* * *

Here the discord voted for Lisa to attempt to tackle Michelle and attack with her knife.

* * *

She kept running. Running towards the bear. 

She tried to weave from side to side to dodge, but a spreading heat in the left of her abdomen told her that had failed. She pushed on and shoved Michelle to the ground with her good side.

Lisa scrambled atop the beast. She knew that Michelle was Misaki’s mascot suit, and she knew that it was sturdy. The best weak points were likely the armpits and the neck-hole. 

The armpits wouldn’t do what she needed, so uhhh… that left… the neck-hole.

Trying not to think about how she didn’t want to do this, Lisa lifted the bear’s head enough to expose a human neck (thank god) and slice.

It didn’t stop. Wasn’t it supposed to stop? Lisa was pretty sure that necks were fragile and cutting them like that would mean death. Instead, there was just… gurgling and flailing. The arm under Lisa’s leg was straining to lock on and fire again.

Lisa sliced again. And again. And again. She wouldn’t black out before she killed this thing. She wouldn’t.

But Michelle kept twitching. Lisa kept slashing, and Michelle kept spasming.

Another gunshot, louder than before, sounded right next to her. Had Michelle hit her? Was that revenge?

Lisa looked around after checking herself for injuries. Michelle hadn’t hit her a second time, and she hadn’t hit Himari because Himari was in the treeline and… wait. 

Yukina?

Yeah, that was Yukina alright. She was watching her.

Lisa blacked out.

* * *

Control switch to Kaoru

* * *

Kaoru worked diligently on the boxes, with the assistance of the lovely Arisa. Kanon was keeping watch from atop a large rock by the lake.

Arisa had gotten short with her a few times too many, so Kaoru tried to drop a bit of her persona and focus on getting everyone’s boxes open.

“If you’re so confident, I’m sure you can handle it from here. Go on, I’ll watch.”  
“As you wish.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to get Kaoru’s box open. They succeeded. This is the first of many puzzles this chapter, as the gang left their boxes here.

* * *

As it turned out, there wasn’t much left to solve, and it wasn’t long before the box gave a satisfying click. Pushing back the lid, Kaoru saw three Michelle Medals. Much like the official merchandise, Michelle’s visage was perfectly captured.

“Huh. I guess you’re not as incompetent as I thought.”  
“Thank you, Arisa-chan. I appreciate the compliment.”  
“So you got the same amount as I did, huh? That’s convenient if we’re using them as a group.”  
“Indeed, any opportunity to assist my little kittens is one I shall gladly embrace.”  
“Shall we start on another one then? Kasumi did ask me to open hers for her, and we have some spare time. N-not that I’m doing this for her, though, we’re doing this as a group thing, right?”  
“We are.”  
“That doesn’t mean we’re stealing though. Or ‘evenly distributing’ them without everyone being here, got it?”  
“Understood, Arisa-chan.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to get Kasumi’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

Arisa assisted Kaoru throughout the entire process this time, speeding it considerably.

“Only one, huh?”  
“Such a shame.”  
“I guess that’s chance and luck for you, though. Someone had to. Kanon did too, didn’t she?”  
“D-did I what?”  
“You got one badge, right?”  
“O-oh! Yeah, I did. Why? Did you open another?”  
“Yeah, we opened Kasumi’s and she has only one badge as well.”  
“I believe they are called Michelle Medals.”  
“Yeah whatever. Kaoru-san and I are gonna open another one while we’re here.”  
“Whose shall we attend to next?”  
“I reckon Rimi’s should be next. Tae’s weirdly smart, which you probably didn’t expect, and Saya’s pretty clever too, which you probably did expect. I don’t know about Aya and Hagumi, though, so maybe we’ll do theirs next?”  
“That sounds like a wonderful plan, Arisa-chan.”  
“Good.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to open Rimi’s box. They succeeded.

* * *

“Rimi really lucked out, huh?”  
“Four medals is impressive. I have complete faith that she will spend them wisely.”  
“Oh yeah, we didn’t actually get told how to exchange them, did we?”  
“Marina-san said she had cameras and the like all over the island, did she not? I believe we simply have to say that we wish to exchange them.”  
“Did she mention whether we could request something specific or not though? It kinda sounded like it’d be a random gacha thing, which I’d expect from a game associated with us at this point.”  
“I’m not sure. I suppose we shall find out when we exchange them, yes?”  
“Guess so. Will we even have to, though? With the bread thing and the hunting, we should be pretty good for food, with the lake right here we’re good for water. I guess we could hope for tents, but seeing as this is a death game they’ll probably have a larger chance of weapon drops.”  
“It would seem so.”

Arisa was smart, which Kaoru admired.

“I think I can only handle one more for right now, this is getting tiring. Should we do Aya’s?”  
“Hagumi, Tae-chan, and Saya-chan can solve theirs upon their return then.”  
“Yup. I think I’ve had enough puzzles to last a while.”

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to open Aya’s box. They succeeded.

* * *

Three medals lay gleaming before them once Aya’s box was opened.

“Excellent! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to collapse.”  
“Mood.”  
“Kaoru-san!”

Kaoru lay her head against the still-cool grass and stared at the nigh-cloudless sky.

Puzzle boxes were a lot harder than she’d expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Puzzle Hell wouldn't've happened if you hadn't left the puzzle boxes with Arisa, Kaoru, and Kanon, by the way.


	25. Lisa Lives!/Surely it was Seppuku

“She’s waking up.”  
“Oh… she is…”  
“Is she ok?”

Yukina saw Lisa’s eyes flutter open.

“Am I ok?”  
“Lisa-san, please try not to move too much… Tomoe-san’s putting pressure on it and I’ve bandaged it, but… I have no idea what I’m doing… sorry…”  
“Rinko you’re doing amazing, don’t worry about it.”  
“Well hey, I’m not dead yet, right? I’d be gone by now if you’d done nothing, right?”  
“R-right…”  
“We couldn’t find the bullet, unfortunately, so if you feel it in there we can’t really get to it.”  
“Oh.”  
“Lisa.”  
“Yukina? What’s up?”  
“Don’t die. I already saw Mitake-san die, I don’t want to watch you die too.”  
“I don’t think I can help it, Yukina. I might have a few more hours, but we don’t have a hospital out here, do we?”  
“We do not.”  
“Wait, you watched Ran die?”  
“We tried to double-suicide to protect everyone. Marina only gave her poison.”  
“Yukina!”  
“W-wait, Ran committed suicide?”  
“Yes, Uehara-san. We decided that it was for the best.”  
“Yukina, you can’t just leave like that! What about me? What about Roselia? What about everyone who loves you?”  
“... Uehara-san, Keba-san, Hazawa-san, Udagawa-san, would you mind leaving for a bit?”  
“If Ako can hold this together, yeah. Ako?”  
“Sure!”

What was left of Afterglow gave most of Roselia some space.

“I did this to protect you. To protect everyone.”  
“Bullshit.”  
“Imai-san… please don’t get mad… it’s not her fault… it’s Marina’s”  
“It’s this island! It’s cursed by uh… the deepest fears of humanity made manifest… the powers of hell have declared this their land!”  
“Ako, that’s cool… but... I don’t think it’s helping…”  
“No, she might have a point. I know Misaki would never do it, but Michelle was shooting at us anyway. This place isn’t normal, and this game is making everyone act weird.”  
“It was Shirasagi-san.”  
“What? Wait, you mean Chisato was in Michelle?”  
“Yes… we took Michelle-san’s head all the way off and it was Shirasagi-san instead of Okusawa-san…”  
“Yikes. Have you buried her? How long have I been out?”  
“It’s almost midday, and onee-chan says we’re going to overheat if we keep digging now. We took her out of Michelle though, and they’re both in the shade.”  
“It was kinda scary…”  
“Yeah…”  
“Did-did you guys watch me?”  
“We all saw you kill Shirasagi-san, yes.”  
“You saw that she’d shot at us first though, right?”  
“We put together as much.”  
“I really did that, huh?”  
“And with an abdominal bullet wound. It was impressive.”

It sure was impressive. Yukina had never even guessed that her Lisa could actually do that, but she had done it. Not a clean kill, but she couldn’t look away. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to watch someone die, but she hadn’t been watching Chisato die. She’d been watching Lisa kill.

“Lisa-nee, are you feeling any better?”  
“I don’t know, Ako. I didn’t really feel it before. I wasn’t even angry, I just Had To Do It To ‘Em.”  
“That’s… valid…”  
“But yeah, I barely even noticed the bullet when I was hit, I just had to protect Himari, y’know? I couldn’t let Michelle continue.”  
“That’s awesome, but I’m really worried about you, Lisa-nee…”  
"I'll be fine."

Yukina heard a loud sigh from Lisa.

“Hey, Yukina?”

* * *

The discord voted for Lisa to kiss Yukina

* * *

“Ye-”

Yukina was cut off by a kiss. It was a little bit awkward with Ako hovering and trying to keep the bandage in place, but it worked.

It wasn’t too intense, because Ako and Rinko were present, but it sure was something.

Yukina tried to burn it into her memory. She couldn’t forget it, she couldn’t afford to.

* * *

Control switch to Eve

* * *

“So… Mitake-san and Aoba-san are dead, right? How do you think they died?”  
“I don’t like to think that any of us would kill each other, but we can’t afford to rule it out, can we?”  
“Maybe they committed seppuku? We all heard the announcement about the sniping if nobody dies for four of the announcements, maybe they were trying to do something honourable?”

Eve hoped that nobody else would have to do that. Nobody should have to sacrifice themself, especially not for some game. She understood the reasoning behind it, and if needs must, but it wasn’t fair.

“That’s a more pleasant thought, I guess. I can’t help but wonder if there’s a killer on the loose though~”  
“They were probably together if they died at the same time, so you’d have to be really skilled to take two out at the same time…”  
“But they would have been sleeping, right? It happened in between 7pm and 7am, and usually people are asleep for most of that. That'd make it easier, wouldn't it?”  
“Hina’s right. It’d be far more simple and clean to take out people if they were asleep.”  
“So either they didn’t set up watch or they committed seppuku? That makes sense, but I think I’d still rather they not be murdered.”  
“I understand, Eve-san. I want everyone out of here before anyone else gets killed.”  
“I’m sure Onee-chan and Misaki-chan can get us out of here!”  
“Correct.”

Eve trusted Sayo. Partly because Hina trusted her, and partly because she seemed decently put together among the 23 other disaster gays in the band party. If they worked together, they could beat the game.

She was sure of it.


	26. Rimi-rin-retiarius

Gathering wattle seeds, Saya couldn’t help but wonder if the deaths of Ran and Moca were her fault. Sure, it had been entirely Ran’s idea from the beginning, and it wasn’t like she could’ve stopped them, and she probably was needed where she is, but what if she’d gone with them?

The other girls had been talking about what might have happened earlier, which was only natural. They were pretty sure it was a double-suicide, partly because Saya herself refused to let them entertain the thought of a murderer in their midst.

Could she have talked them out of it?

Could she talk anyone out of it?

She was pretty sure that Kasumi and Hagumi were unlikely to want to try, and Kanon and Aya were probably too scared to try. Tae was still an unknown, even after all this time. Rimi might be too scared, but she also got overloaded pretty easily and had a sense of duty that Saya couldn’t ignore. Arisa had self-worth issues despite everything, so she might make an attempt. Kaoru was… complicated, but she had a princely dramatic hero complex, so it was pretty likely that if she had to she would, especially if she lost someone else important to her.

She didn’t like to think about herself doing that. She wouldn’t, of course. She had to protect everyone.

She had to stay alive to protect everyone. She wouldn’t force anyone to kill themself, couldn't, but… if it came to crunch time, she wouldn’t stop a volunteer, would she? Letting two people die when it could be just one was a waste.

Was that cruel? She didn’t want it to have to be that way, but unfortunately it was.

Ran and Moca double-suiciding was a waste, in that respect. It only had to be one of them, or they could have at least spaced it out to reset the timer better, but they didn’t.

Were those gays really that bad at maths?

“Saya, whatcha thinkin’ ‘bout?”  
“Maths.”  
“Ew! We don’t have to worry about maths here, right?”  
“Kasumi-chan, we need to do maths to keep track of food and stuff, remember?”  
“Oh yeah~ Do you guys think we have enough for now?”  
“Looks like it. Plus we know where it is now, and we can always come back for more. We found a bunch of these trees, so it’s all good.”  
“Let’s head back then, yeah?”  
“Ok!!”

They packed up their bags and started heading back.

“Do you think Arisa finished my puzzle box yet?”  
“Arisa’s smart, I’m pretty sure she’s gotten through a bunch by now.”  
“O-Tae’s right, Arisa-chan’s pretty clever, and I’m sure Kaoru-san’s a big help too…”  
“Yeah! Kaoru-kun loves helping!”  
“Do you think we should use our Michelle Medals once we get back?”  
“I-I think it’s worth a shot, right? We could get useful stuff, and, um… like, yummier food?”  
“You want a choco cornet, don’t you? It’s not going to be fresh or from Yamabuki Bakery, but I can see why you’d still want one.”  
“Comfort food sort of thing?”  
“Y-yeah, kinda…”  
“I do kinda wanna see what we get though, right? Maybe we could get something more comfortable, like a tent?”  
“Ooh! Or some walkie-talkies, so we can make sure everyone’s ok!”  
“Maybe some binoculars would be nice? That way it’d be a lot easier to scout.”  
“We could do with some fishing or hunting equipment, too! Hagumi is hungry for meat as well!”  
“What happens if we get weapons?”  
“We use them for self-defense.”

And soon enough, they were back.

After welcomes and a brief exchange, the subject came to the Michelle Medals.

* * *

The discord voted for Rimi to trade a Michelle Medal

* * *

“So should we trade one and see what we get then?”  
“Might as well, I guess?”  
“I agree. It’ll be a lot easier to negotiate and share if we’re all here for the delivery.”  
“Yeah!”  
“Indeed, if money go before, all ways do lie open. Michelle Medals are no good if not spent.”  
“So who has to most then?”  
“It’s Rimi. She has 4. She doesn’t need to if she doesn’t want to though, got it? Kaoru, Aya, and I have 3 each. Kanon and Kasumi have 1 each. We haven't managed to open anyone else's yet. Again though, Rimi doesn't have to spend hers just because she has the most, ok?”  
“I want to, Arisa-chan. How do I do it?”  
“Well I don’t think anyone here has done it before, so… just say it, I guess? We’re being recorded, I think they’ll get it.”  
“Good idea, Arisa! Try that, Rimi-rin, we’ll be super quiet.”

A hush fell over the crowd.

“U-um! I want to trade one of my medals, if that’s ok?”

A pause.

“Rimi Ushigome, you would like to trade one of your Michelle Medals for randomly chosen supplies?”  
“Yes please, voice-chan!”  
“Stand by. When the helicopter drops the line, attach your badge firmly to it. Do not attempt to climb the line. Understood?”  
“Y-yes! I understand.”

Saya waited with the others for the helicopter to arrive.

“Voice-chan? Really?”  
“S-should I not have called them that?”  
“I think it was cute! She’s allowed to call them -chan if she wants! Voice-chan didn’t say not to call them that, so that means it’s ok!”

Blades whirred above them, and a thin line lowered slowly from it. Rimi affixed the medal to it and stepped back, waiting for the line to retract.

* * *

I used the dicebot to roll on a secret table for Rimi’s sick loot. She rolled a 29

* * *

Signalling the completion of the interaction, the helicopter dropped a package and flew off.

“What is it?”  
“I don’t know, Kasumi-chan! I’ll just… open it…”

Saya watched, unsure of quite what to think, as Rimi opened the package.

“There’s a note.”  
“W-what does it say, Rimi-chan?”  
“The package code says that it’s number 29, and it’s congratulating me on my new net. There’s a little smiley face, too!”  
“That’s pretty… harmless, actually.”  
“Not necessarily. In ancient Rome there was a gladiator type that used nets and tridents, I think they were called the Retiarius? I think the plural would probably be Retiarii, right?”  
“I wouldn’t know. Where did you learn this? I don’t think that was covered in history class…”  
“Where do I learn anything these days? The internet. Anyway, they were usually pitted against the heavily-armoured ones, whose name I don’t remember, but I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that. It’s pretty much just a fishing net anyway, right?”  
“Does this mean we can catch more fish now?!? Nice!”

Well, that’s a relief.


	27. What am I Supposed to do with a Mace?/Lisa Actually Dies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for death again, obviously.

Misaki had just finished lunch, and had some spare time on her hands. Not wanting to spend too much of it complicating her feelings towards Sayo even further, she decided to finally give her puzzle box a go. I mean, she might as well, right?

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle of their own to get Misaki’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

“That was suspiciously easy.”

She set the box facing away from her and flipped the lid open. 

Hearing no hiss, clap or other suspect noise, she peered in.

Four familiar faces peered up at her. Wait, wasn’t that the maximum you could get? She’d lucked out. Almost made up for the scorpion sting.

Very well then, time to test it out.

“Hey you. Creepy surveillance people.”

Nothing.

“I want to trade a medal.”  
“Misaki Okusawa, you would like to trade one of your Michelle Medals for randomly-chosen supplies?”  
“I would.”  
“Stand by. When the helicopter drops the line, attach your badge firmly to it. Do not attempt to climb the line. Understood?”  
“Yeah.”

It took a while for the helicopter to show up, but when it did, Misaki did as she was told. The line retracted, and a parcel fell gently to the ground.

* * *

Dicebot rolled sick loot again. She rolled a 54

* * *

“A mace?? Really? What am I supposed to do with this? I’m not killing anyone, I’m getting out of here. Give me something else.”  
“You would like to trade another medal?”  
“Fine.”  
“Stand by.”

* * *

Rolled for sick loot again. She rolled a 52

* * *

This time her prize was a bit bulkier.

“...Congratulations on your new one-person tent… smiley-face. Ok, that’ll do. At least I don’t have to sleep without shelter again.”

Misaki didn’t really want to kill anyone, and if she absolutely had to then a mace almost felt like cheating. Maybe she’d get used to the idea, but for now she’d prefer an even playing field. The tent, however… 

The tent would be useful. Looking at the picture on the packaging you could probably fit two people in, but it’d be a bit of a squeeze. You’d probably… have to cuddle… 

And Sayo would be back eventually, assuming she wasn’t stolen away or god forbid killed… 

No. Pull yourself together, Misaki, now’s not the time. She could smother you in your sleep!

She could’ve done that at any time! And would that even be so bad? She was trying to get better, but Misaki still lowkey wanted to die, and if it was by her hand… 

This was complicated. And it just got depressing. God damnit.

Aaaaaand of course. Footsteps. A lot of them. Misaki turned to face them and was greeted by Hina, Maya, Eve, and Sayo.

“Hi Misaki-chan!”  
“Hello.”  
“How’ve you been holding up? Is the scorpion sting much better?”  
“She was stung by a scorpion?”  
“Yeah, and it’s mostly fine now. Did you guys get your boxes open?”  
“Most of them! Hina-san has 4 medals, I have 2, and Eve-san has 1. We didn’t open Sayo-san’s yet.”  
“I opened mine and had 4, but I just spent 2 of them on… this. A roomy-looking one-person tent and a mace.”  
“Neat!”  
“Yeah I don’t know if I actually want the mace, it feels kind of unfair?”

* * *

Here the discord voted for Misaki to give or trade the mace to Sayo

* * *

“You’re probably the strongest out of anyone here, Okusawa-san. If you don’t want it, you probably don’t need it? Not that I’m saying you should give it up, of course.”  
“If you’re giving it to someone else, I’m fine without it!”

Misaki thought about this for a bit. She should probably give it to the person who needed it the most, right? Eve would probably be happier with something a little more samurai-like, and if Misaki was remembering correctly she knew some sort of martial art or kendo or something. Maya looked pretty strong, and Hina had said she didn't want it, so that left Sayo.

She didn’t want it to seem like she was showing favour to Sayo, but… 

“No offence, Sayo-san, but I think you need this the most. Do you want it?”  
“Yes, thank you. How do you want me to repay you?”  
“Oh, you don’t have to do that. Just take it for now, and if you really want, you can owe me.”  
“I don’t like to be in debt, but that seems reasonable enough. Is everyone else sure they don’t want it?”  
“I think we’re all good, onee-chan!”  
“Yeah, I’m fine.”  
“And I know how to defend myself!”

Sayo looked kind of embarrassed, so Misaki handed her the mace without a word.

“You might want to practice with this thing, it’s kinda heavy and I doubt you’ve had to use anything like this before.”  
“Correct.”  
“Wakamiya-san, do you want to supervise that while the rest of us cook? Rations run out today, so I’ve been trying to fish the lake to top things up.”  
“Sure, Misaki-san! I’ll make sure she has the hang of it by tonight.”  
“Please don’t let Hina cook unsupervised.”

That seemed about right to Misaki. Hina seemed like a weird food person with a messy kitchen, and Misaki didn’t really want to deal with that.

“Can I gather berries and stuff then?”  
“Yamato-san, are you cool with cooking these by yourself then? I feel like I should go with Hina-san.”  
“Sure thing!”  
“We’ll be back soon. We might go to the beach if any of you guys want coconuts, so that might take a while, but otherwise we’ll just get berries and roots.”  
“Oooh, I would like a coconut!”  
“Sounds cool!”  
“Alright, we’re going to the beach then.”  
We’ll see you later! Can I have a goodbye kiss from Maya-chan and Eve-chan please?”

Hina kissed her girlfriends. Misaki and Hina started walking south, at Misaki’s guidance.

Hina sure did like kisses, huh. At least they weren’t making out in front of her though, not like Kasumi tried to do with Kokoro every fucking time.

Kokoro was dead now, though, so that couldn’t happen any more. Annoying as it was, Misaki had liked seeing Kokoro so happy. Kokoro was rarely not happy, though, so maybe Misaki just liked seeing her at all.

And now she couldn’t.

“Misaki-chan, are you ok? You look kinda down!”  
“I’m just thinking about Kokoro is all.”  
“It’s not fair that our gf died, is it? Eve-chan and I found her body, by the way.”  
“You did?”

* * *

Control switch to Tsugumi

* * *

Nobody had been doing anything very successfully for the past few hours. 

Yukina had been singing to Lisa, and Tomoe and Ako had drummed for her in between shifts of digging the graves. Yes, graves. Lisa knew she wouldn’t make it far, so she’d practically ordered them to be ready to bury her here.

Tsugumi herself had tried cooking the fish Lisa had brought in, but she’d kept stealing glances back at the others to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. She’d had to!

Not that she wanted to watch someone die, but she wanted Lisa to be around friends when she did go out.

And so there she was, kneeling with the others. Lisa jerked upright and coughed, prompting another fresh stream of blood through the bandages. 

“Guys? I don’t think I can keep doing this.”

Himari held Tsugumi tightly, more for herself than for Tsugumi. Tsugumi could feel her sobbing and her tears and hear her cries. It was awful. What would she be like when Lisa was actually dead?

“Himari-chan, she’s not dead yet!”  
“She doesn’t have long, but she’s not gone yet.”

Or maybe she would be the same when Lisa actually died? Maybe this was the pre-emptive emotional response… or something… 

* * *

The discord had to write some possible death monologues for Lisa. I got 2 entries, which I combined.

* * *

“I’m going to start monologuing now, ok?”

That was ok with everyone.

“Yukina, Ako, Rinko, it was an honour playing with you. And Sayo, wherever she is. Remember me through our music, keep rising to greater heights, keep our dream alive. Playing with Roselia has made some of my most treasured memories. I want our music to go on, even if I can’t be there making it.”  
“Of course.”  
“Do tell Sayo that I cherished my time with her too, when you see her. I love all of you.”  
“Can do! Thank you Lisa-nee. I think she’ll really appreciate that.”  
“Himari, Tomoe, Tsugumi, I want you guys alive and making music as well. Keep living, for Moca’s and Ran’s sake. From what you said, Ran only did what she did because she wanted you alive, and you need to respect that.”

Tsugumi couldn’t breathe. Tomoe noticed this and carefully lifted Himari into her own lap to relieve her.

“Himari? I know what we had with each other and Aya was fairly casual, but you have to tell her the she was an amazing person to be around, and so were you!”  
“I think she can do that. Can’t you, Himari?”

Himari gave a weak thumbs-up from Tomoe’s chest.

“Yukina, I know I ask a lot of you, but could you comfort my family when I’m gone? You’ve known them for so long. You’re the best friend a girl could ask for.”

Even Yukina was tearing up. Tsugumi didn’t know she knew how to do that. And in front of other people, too! Lisa was worse, though. She’d been getting the words out ok, but it looked like she really had to concentrate.

“Thank you, all of you. I’ll see you on the other side.”

There was an awkward silence. Lisa hadn’t timed it particularly well, had she? Then again, Tsugumi supposed that it would have been much harder if she’d left it to the last second.

And then the spasms got worse. Even in her death throes, Lisa was trying to make it seem like she wasn’t to be worried about, but…

It was painfully obvious that it hurt a lot.

Tsugumi couldn’t look away, even though it took what seemed like days.

She finally stopped, and Rinko checked her pulse. 

“She’s… dead now…”

And Himari screamed.


	28. Hagumi gets Sp00ped

“I have an idea!”  
“What is it, O-Tae-chan?”  
“Well you know how there’s a waterfall?”  
“Yeah..?”  
“We could probably catch more fish from up there, right?”  
“Oh!! The waterfall?? That’s a super great idea!!”

Aya hadn’t thought of that before… 

“Tae-chan that’s pretty good! We should tell the others before we move up there though, right?”  
“Y-yeah, probably…”

Tae, Rimi, Hagumi and herself had been standing in the shallows trying to scare fish into Rimi’s new net. This was, in hindsight, a bit silly. They had caught one, but they’d probably catch more up at the waterfall, huh?

They waded back to shore.

“Caught another one?”  
“No, we just figured we might be able to catch more up the waterfall!”  
“That makes sense, but you’re going to have to be a lot more careful up there, especially climbing.”  
“Maybe Hagumi-chan can go up first and throw a rope down?”  
“Sounds fun.”  
“You up for that, Hagu?”  
“Yeah!”  
“Sh-should we go now, then?”  
“Actually is Rimi-chan ok with climbing with her hurt arm? Maybe someone else should come!”  
“Good point. Who wants to go? Kaoru-san?”

Kaoru went pale. Was she actually… scared?

“U-um! I’ll go!”  
“Thank you, Kanon.”  
“Please be careful with my net, and um! Good luck!”

The four of them made their way to the rocks by the base of the waterfall. It was pretty steep, and Aya was glad that she’d have the help of a rope to climb. She was never very good at that either though… 

The rocks weren’t that slippery where they were, so Hagumi made it up.

“What do I tie the rope to?”  
“Is there a big tree close enough?”  
“It’s not super big, but there is one!”  
“Great, Hagumi-chan! Tie it to that, and then you can pull up Tae-chan and she can help you!”  
“Cool! I’ll do that now.”

* * *

Here I rolled a d20+5 to see if Hagumi could successfully help the others scale the rocks. She rolled a 25

* * *

“That was fun!”  
“Y-yeah! Thanks, Hagumi-chan.”  
“No worries!”  
“What’s that?”  
“What’s what?”  
“The cave-looking thing.”  
“I’d say it’s probably a cave, Tae-chan!”  
“Can we check? I like caves.”  
“What if there are b-bears?”  
“Nope. We watched the documentary and I didn’t see any bears, therefore there aren’t any.”  
“That’s- ok. I mean, I think you’re right, but I don’t know tha- wait for me!”

Aya was by no means an expert, nor was she particularly smart, but she was pretty sure that that wasn’t entirely sound reasoning. But on the other hand, Aya was pretty sure she was right anyway? She’d probably read somewhere that Australia has no native bears... or... something...

She hoped they weren’t wrong. 

“Echo! Echo!” Hagumi yelled, and it did indeed echo throughout the cavernous opening.  
“Time to search!”

Tae flipped out her lighter and encouraged the others to do the same.

Hagumi and Tae went their own ways, so Aya held Kanon’s hand so that she wouldn’t get lost. It wasn’t immediately dark, but walking even a few steps in and you really started to notice it.

Tae and Hagumi split off a bit ahead, and as much as she hated to admit it, Aya was scared to go very far in even with Kanon by her side.

After a little while, they noticed someone’s lighter drop and go out.

“W-was that Hagumi-chan?”  
“We should go check. Tae-chan!”  
“Yeah? Wait, where’s Hagumi? Hagumi!”

No response.

“We saw her lighter drop over here, we think! Follow us.”

They found her alright. They found her staring at something . Following her gaze, it was… 

She screamed. Kanon screamed. Tae joined in.

It was a skeleton. The bones had a bunch of what Aya hoped was dirt on them, and there was a big gaping hole in the skull with some fragments sticking out of the rest of the skull like potato chips in a bowl.

She wished she hadn’t pictured it that way.

Kanon picked up Hagumi’s lighter for her.

“How do you think they died? I think they might have fallen and hit their head.”  
“Tae-chan, I don’t think that much damage happens from just tripping and falling…”  
“I meant from up there! Echo!”

Oh. Actually listening to it, the echoes made a lot more sense when you assumed that there was more room somewhere above them.

“Oh.”  
“That’s my theory anyway. Or they might’ve been hit over the head with a sledgehamme-”  
“Stop it! Please stop. Hagumi doesn’t want to listen.”  
“Ok, Hagumi. Should we get out of here?”  
“I-I think that’s a good idea, Aya-chan.”

They helped lift Hagumi to her feet and walked her out of the cave.

* * *

Here the discord voted for them to get some fishing done while they’re at the top of the waterfall instead of going straight back down to camp

* * *

“Do we want to do some fishing while we’re up here? It is what we came for…”  
“Yup! Hagumi, you ok to fish?”

Hagumi took a bit to collect herself before perking right up from sad in what seemed like a millisecond.

“Yeah!!”


	29. Cooking is Boring/We Keep Going

Maya was technically busy cooking, but it was a tedious enough that she could think of other things. Like Sayo’s box.

Maya was itching to get her hands on it. Not to steal it or anything! Just to work on a puzzle again. It’d be much more interesting than this.

She tried to put it out of her mind and think about other things, but it was either the box or home, and she didn’t much want to think about home.

She thought back on exposing her cuts to the others, and she hoped that someone watching this sick game would notice and finally do something about the abuse from her parents, even if she wasn’t there to see it.

They were her parents, and she didn’t really want anything bad to happen to them, but they were also bastards and she wanted them to stop hurting people. It was… complicated, to say the least.

“Maya-san!”  
“Ah! Hello, Eve-san, Sayo-san. Done with practice for now?”  
“For now, yes. Wakamiya-san suggested that we take a break.”  
“Good, good! I actually wanted to ask you something, Sayo-san.”  
“Oh?”  
“Can I… can I help you with your puzzle box? I found it really interesting helping solve the others, is all.”  
“Oh. Shall we do it together then?”  
“I’ll take care of the cooking for now! You two work on it!”  
“Thank you, Eve-san! You don’t have to do much, just watch it and turn it.”  
“Got it!”

* * *

The discord had to solve a puzzle to get Sayo’s box open. They succeeded.

* * *

It didn’t take long for the box to utter that satisfying click. Maya grinned.

Sayo opened the box, revealing 4 Michelle Medals.

“Wow, I guess both of you twins really lucked out!”  
“Did Sayo-san get four as well?”  
“She did! Let’s count how many we have… Sayo-san and Hina-san still have 4 each, making it 8. Okusawa-san had 4, but she traded 2 away, leaving her with the same amount as me, and bringing the total to 12. And then there’s you, Eve-san, who has 1, making it 13.”  
“Indeed.”  
“That’s not so bad when you say it that way!”

Neither of the others were stupid or particularly bad at maths, but it couldn’t hurt to say it out loud. Except that perhaps it did, as Sayo was looking uncomfortable. She did seem oddly protective of Hina’s medals earlier, so that was probably part of it, huh.

They’d still use them for the good of the group though, right? They were going to get out of here together, all of them. 

They just had to find Marina and get her to get everyone off the island.

* * *

Perspective change to Tomoe

* * *

It had felt very strange, burying bodies. Throwing soil on top of friends, it hadn’t stopped freaking her out. Not visibly, she couldn't afford that, but… it was super weird. She’d done it 4 times now, and it was still super weird.

Chisato had seemed friendly enough, though Afterglow hadn’t had much interaction with them outside of the massive lives the five bands had had together. Lisa was even friendlier, despite the rivalry between their two bands. Plus, Tomoe was more familiar with her from when Ako brought Roselia around.

And now both of them were just. Dead. And they weren’t coming back.

It broke Tomoe’s heart to see her little sister in such despair, which was why she was holding her now.

“You’re going to be ok, Ako. We’ll keep going, right?”  
“Mm.”  
“It’s not your fault, either. Or any of ours. None of us are doctors, y’know? It takes a professional for stuff like this, so don’t blame anyone here, got it?”  
“Mhm.”  
“Good girl.”

They were all doing something of the sort at this moment. Tsugumi had Himari laying across her lap and was gently stroking her hair. Yukina had an arm around Rinko’s shoulders while they sat, and they were talking softly. Tomoe had almost expected Yukina to be far more awkward about it, but it looked pretty natural as best she could tell.

Something was off about Yukina anyway, but Tomoe couldn’t quite tell what it was. It was probably just trauma though, right? She’d had a failed suicide attempt, she watched Ran die, and she probably figured that the deaths of both Moca and Ran were her fault. And now this. 

Could anyone blame her?

Ako’s breathing was returning to normal now as she finally stopped crying.

“What do we do now?”

That was a good question. The others stopped to look at her

“We keep going. We head back to the others up at the lake and we survive together.”  
“Sounds like a plan!”  
“Sounds good… to me…”  
“Yeah, we shouldn’t split the party for too long!”  
“'Atta girl. Do we want to head off now then?”  
“Might as well.”  
“Cool, cool.”

Tomoe hoped that the others were faring better than this, though it was a pretty low bar.


	30. Arisa Gets Injured/Only One Tent...

Arisa thought back to the screams involuntarily. When they’d heard them, Kasumi had gone to investigate. They were fine, apparently, but it still sucked to hear them yell. They were good kids.

Kids? Really, brain? Two of them are older than you and the other two are the same age! 

Although… none of them were even old enough to vote, so technically she was right.

Still though, it’s weird to call peers and senpai “kids”, right?

“Whatcha thinking about?”  
“Shut it, kid.”

Kasumi pouted.

“I’m sorry, that just slipped out. What’s the matter, Kasumi?”  
“I’m bored. Saya said I should take a break from helping her, so I decided to come over and say hi to you!”  
“I’m not even doing anything. Saya told me to take a break too. Does she want me to switch with you or something?”  
“She didn’t say anything about that, so I don’t think so…”

Arisa was glad that Saya was taking a leadership role. She was actually responsible, for one, and for two it meant that Arisa herself didn’t have to do it. If someone killed Saya she’d kill them.

“I know Saya said we shouldn’t, but I kinda wanna go explore the cave and see the skeleton. Do you want to come with me tonight?”

* * *

Here the discord voted for Arisa to say yes to going with Kasumi tonight

* * *

“I dunno, Kasumi, that seems kinda-”  
“Pleeeeeeeeease~?”

Arisa hated that face. Well, she loved it, but it always meant doing something that made her at least slightly uncomfortable.

“Fine. I’ll come so that you don’t do it on your own. You try to push me off a cliff and I’m taking you with me though, understood?”  
“I completely understand. Thanks, Arisa!”  
“You weren’t going to do it on your own though anyway, were you? Who else is coming?”  
“Nobody! It’s just you ‘n’ me~”

Just her and Kasumi, huh? That’d be a lot nicer if it weren’t in some stupid dark dangerous cave with a skeleton in it.

“Don’t tell anybody please. It’s a seeeeecret~”  
“Alright, whatever. You doing ok, though?”  
“Shouldn’t I be?”  
“Three people have died!”  
“I like to think of it as ‘only three people have died.’”

Arisa gave her a look of disbelief. Did she really think that way? Kasumi?

“It’s a death game, remember? People are supposed to die! It’s been like 2 days-”  
“-3-”  
“-3 days, and only 3 people have died! That means everyone really likes each other!”  
“I guess that make sense, but-”

Fireworks. Fuck.

“It is now 7pm! Congratulations to the 20 of you for making it through another 12 hours!”

God fucking damnit.

“You were wrong.”  
“I… I was.”

Damnit.

“There are now 20 of you left. Chisato Shirasagi and Lisa Imai are now dead!”

Big F.

“That’s all the announcements for now. I’ll see you in the morning, if you’re lucky. Happy killing!”

* * *

Control switch to Sayo

* * *

“Imai-san…”  
“Yikes.”  
“F.”  
“Chisato-san…”

Everyone looked on the edge of losing it, likely including herself. Misaki was somewhat better off, but the fact that 5 of them were now dead undoubtedly hit her hard.

Maya and Eve started crying. Hina was trying to not cry, but it was obvious that she was close by the way she gripped the fabric of her pants and the way her shoulders rose and fell. Sayo was doing the same.

The difference was that when Maya told Hina that it was ok to cry, the floodgates opened to a tsunami of tears, whereas when Misaki said the same to Sayo, she remained still.

Deep breaths, Sayo. Deep breaths.

* * *

“Sayo-san?”  
“Yes?”  
“Do you want to sleep in my tent tonight? It’s pretty roomy now that we’ve set it up, so it shouldn’t be too claustrophobic. No offense, of course, but you look like you need it.”  
“It’s yours, Okusawa-san. You should have it.”  
“I insist.”  
“As do I.”  
“Seriously.”  
“I’m serious too.”  
“We could probably share it then? I know you’re stubborn-”

Rude.

“But… I reckon you could do with a little extra comfort.”

Sayo considered this for a bit. Misaki was beet red. Sayo was trying to not be the same.

“Oh, that probably sounded rude, huh? Sorry about that. You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. Obviously.”  
“Does anyone else want it?”  
“I dunno, let’s ask.”

Nope. Or at least, that’s what the others said. Hina’d probably roped them into being ‘wingmen’ for her and Misaki.

She didn’t deserve it of course, but… it’d probably make her feel better, at least for a while. 

Fine.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. Misaki, I’ll sleep with you-”

Hina perked up.

“In the tent. Hina, you should know to stop interpreting things like that by now.”

Hina wiped the tears from her eyes and laughed. What an asshole.

“I’m not trying to favour her, by the way. You three all agreed that you didn’t want any of this, yes?”

Nods.

“Cool. No getting jealous and murdering me.”

Sayo couldn’t help but feel inadequate, though. They thought she was weak, didn’t they?

“You don’t think me defenseless though, do you?”  
“Of course not, Onee-chan! You’re the most capable person I know!”

Hina must not know many people.

“It’s not that I think you defenseless, Sayo-san. I just see you and think…”  
“Think what?”  
“Nothing. I think nothing. Forget I said anything, please.”  
“You’re a formidable force, Sayo-san. We want you functioning at full capacity, y’know?”  
“Exactly! You put it really well, Maya-san! We want you out in full fighting force, Sayo-san!”

Sayo was pretty sure that that didn’t quite mean what Eve thought it meant. 

“Eve-chan and I are on first watch, right?”  
“Indeed.”  
“Then you guys can get some sleep in now! We’ll wake you when it’s time!”  
“Sounds good. Goodnight, folks!”  
“Goodnight, Yamato-san.”  
“See you for watch in a few hours.”

Misaki held the tent-flaps open for Sayo before going in herself. It was a lot more claustrophobic than expected with two people in it, but it worked, and it was almost comfortable. Better than outside, though that wasn’t exactly a high bar.

Plus, she was in very close quarters with her crush. Nothing sexual, of course, but romance..? Romance was still on the table.

What was she talking about? No it wasn’t, because she didn’t feel that way abou-

“Big spoon or little spoon?” Misaki whispered.

Sayo took a deep breath to try and calm the gay screaming in her head.

“Oh god, I’m sorry. Was that too forward or something? We don’t have to, I just figured, y’know, maybe it’d be easier-”  
“Little spoon.”  
“Really? I didn’t take you for a little spoon.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“I… I don’t know. You give off a certain aura, I guess? Authoritative.”  
“Thanks.”

Please for the love of god stop sounding so cold, Sayo told herself. You might not have much time left.

Misaki put an arm over Sayo’s waist and Sayo felt her breath catch in her throat. It was warm, it was cuddly, and it was something she hadn’t experienced in too long.

She hadn’t been like this since she was still near Lisa. Lisa… 

“You good?”  
“No.”  
“Yeah. I know what you mean.”  
“I don’t want-”  
“Mm?”  
“I don’t want to have to kill you.”  
“You’ve thought about killing me?”  
“I’ve thought about killing my own sister, I’ve thought about killing everyone here, everyone on this island. Of course I’ve thought about killing you. And I don’t want to.”  
“Thanks? I’m not gonna lie, I’ve thought about it too. I don’t think I could bring myself to kill you either, Sayo-san.”  
“Please… if it comes down it it, you can kill me. I don’t mind. I deserve it.”  
“Mood.”

Mood??

“Uhhh… I mean I feel the same way.”  
“I know what ‘mood’ means. You’re not going to kill yourself, are you?”  
“It has to happen eventually. I’d rather we got out of here first, but if we can’t salvage it, then…”  
“You don’t deserve this, Okusawa-san.”  
“The depression? I deserve it no more than anyone else. You have it too, don’t you? I can tell.”  
“I don’t- I’m not- it’s just that-”

Sayo sighed.

“Actually it might be bipolar depression, I can’t be sure yet. Please don’t tell anyone. I have an image to protect.”

Misaki hugged her tighter, letting a sigh into the nape of the taller girl’s neck. Sayo’s gay alarms were renewed. She was so cute and soft, even in a place like this. Even in a place with a death count of 5 of their friends over so few days, Misaki had found time for fluff.

She was so strong, so reliable, so intelligent, so caring. No wonder her bandmates adored her (and Michelle). Sayo was glad to be there in that moment. Honoured, really.

She dared to snuggle in. She was welcomed by Misaki’s built frame.

This was nice.

* * *

Back to Arisa wooo

* * *

This was very not nice. 

Kasumi had kicked two rocks onto her already as they scaled the stone wall, it was dark as hell, she was having to juggle a lighter and a rope to see even inches in front of her face, and actually hell was probably not dark what with all the flames, but still. Unpleasant.

“We almost up yet?”  
“Nope!”

* * *

Here I held a series of two luck polls to see if Arisa would fall at the first hurdle, and for what happens when she does.

* * *

She groaned, closing her eyes for but a moment. In that moment, she lost her grip on the rope. They were maybe 6 metres up, and then Arisa was 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. She didn’t scream as she fell, she didn’t really think to.

She almost landed on her feet. Almost. Pain seared up her right leg as she landed at an angle. 

Now she screamed. It barely broke through the noise of the waterfall.

She sat up and grasped at her leg, trying to… to… she didn’t know. To help, somehow? It definitely felt broken, which she could tell because it poked out of the skin below her knee.

She started yelling profanities, throwing in Kasumi’s name a few times. 

After what seemed like an aeon of waiting in agony, Kasumi finished carefully rappelling down the rock wall and rushed to her side.

“Arisa!! Are you ok???”  
“NO!”  
“What happened?”  
“What does it look like? I fucking fell. And I broke my goddamn leg.”  
“Ouch! Can I see?”

That wasn’t a shit idea. Arisa felt around for her lighter.

“Can you see my lighter anywhere??”  
“Ummm… let me see…”

Kasumi waved her lighter over the rocks, illuminating the slickness of the red-black stone. She couldn’t find it, and Arisa called her off in favour of assessing the damage.

Arisa hesitantly lifted the right leg of her pants to her knee, hissing as it went over the break.

“Oh ouch! That’s gotta really hurt!”  
“No fucking shit, Sherlock! Yes it hurts!”  
“Should I go wake the others?”  
“Yes! Just Saya and O-Tae, please, we don’t need a whole… thing…”  
“Roger that! I’ll be right back. Stay. Still. Got it?”  
“Yeah!”

Kasumi ran off into the darkness, leaving Arisa with only the scant light of the moon to see with. Probably for the best, considering her whole… leg situation. She could feel the steady pulse of blood over her calf.

She tried not to think about it.

Another eternity passed before Kasumi arrived with Saya, two fireflies on the approach.

“Where’s Tae?”  
“She’s finding a stick!”  
“W-what?? To what end??”  
“For the splint!”

Ah. She’d forgotten about those.

Saya knelt down beside her and applied some betadine to the open wound, which stung like a bitch.

Tae came back soon enough, her shadowy figure waving a stick above her head. 

“We good?”

* * *

The discord voted for them to try to set the bone back in place

* * *

“No. Wait, are you guys really not going to put it back in?”  
“You want us to put it back in? That might be dangerous…”  
“More dangerous than leaving an open wound? More dangerous than me not even kind of being able to walk again any time soon?”  
“She has a point.”  
“It’d hurt a lot, though.”  
“Saya I think it hurts a lot anyway. We don’t want it to get infected and gross, right?”  
“Right. I-”  
“Look, there are no doctors here. We don’t have the luxury of having a professional to set it, but it needs doing.”

Saya sighed.

“So be it then.”  
“Ok! Saya, you hold her up here, Tae, you hold her down here. I’ll help Tae and make sure it goes in properly! Arisa can bite down on this.” Kasumi said, handing Arisa a stick. She had stripped the bark off it, so it wasn’t totally filthy, but uh. Not ideal.  
“Sounds like a plan.”

Saya went to her thigh, Tae to her ankle, and Kasumi stayed by the calf. Arisa reluctantly put the stick in her mouth and bit down.

Regret. Regret regret regret regret regret reGRET-

She found herself screaming at the top of her lungs through the stick, eyes scrunched tight, fists clenched.

“Ichigaya-san, you can stop screaming now. It’s back in.”

She could feel more of the dampness on her leg, and then bandages being wound around it. It hurt. Biting down on something had helped, but it still stung like an absolute bitch.

She spat the stick out.

“Kanon-senpai, Aya-senpai, ah- Kaoru-senpai, go back to sleep.”  
“What happened?”  
“That’s a good question, actually.”

Arisa opened her eyes to glares from everyone but her partner in crime, who looked sheepishly away.

“Did you not tell her, Kasumi?”

The glares shifted to Kasumi.

“Kasumi.”  
“Yes, O-Tae?”  
“What’d you do?”  
“Well! That’s a very good question, and it has a very good answer that is kind of a long story, and-”  
“Kasumi.”  
“MeandArisawantedtogoseetheskeletonsowetriedtogointothecavesbutshefell.”  
“I’m sorry?”  
“Me and Arisa wanted to go see the skeleton-”  
“You wanted to see the skeleton and dragged me along!”  
“So we tried to go in the caves, but she fell. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen!”  
“How do we know you didn’t push her?”

A pause.

“She didn’t push me, I was just clumsy and I fell. If she pushed me, I’d tell you. Can we get the splint on already?”  
“On it.”

Saya, Tae, and Kasumi worked on the splint. Kaoru came to sit by her, followed by Aya and Kanon. Kaoru gently held her hand.

“Is there anything I can do?”  
“Nothing I can think of, Kaoru-san. Thanks for trying. Worst bit’s over now anyway.”  
“W-what was the worst bit?”  
“We had to set the bone back in place because it was poking through the skin.”

All three of them visibly recoiled. This was why they didn’t wake them in the first place, and why they’d tried to cover the screaming with a stick. Had they really heard it?

“Why are you three even here?”  
“Kanon-chan heard something and saw Saya-chan and Tae-chan leave, and she got worried, so she woke us up to investigate. I’m glad you’re ok, Arisa-chan!”  
“Weird definition of ‘ok’, but me too. Wait, why didn’t you wake Rimi and Hagumi up?”  
“Hagumi-chan sleeps really deeply, and I di-didn’t want to panic Rimi-chan… did I do ok? Should we have woken them up too?”  
“No, Kanon-senpai. You’re fine.”

The splint was finished.

“We shouldn’t move her in the dark, so does someone want to stay here with her while the rest of us sleep or go on watch?”  
“I’ll stay with her!”  
“Okay O-Tae.”  
“Alright, are we heading back now then?”  
“Let us return once more, little kittens, to the realm of slumber.”  
“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost 3,000 words for this chapter, compared to the usual ~1,000


	31. Tsugu McFreaking Loses It (1/???)/Arisa Wants to Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one starts off kinda rough and then ends with gay cuteness. Warning again for guns

Rinko awoke to the sounds of struggle.

“Yukina-senpai! Yukina-senpai please stop!”

Tsugumi’s voice. Rinko didn’t want to open her eyes, but she did. She could see her band’s vocalist kneeling over someone else, strangling them, and she could see Tsugumi standing with the revolver in her hands.

Tsugumi’s voice cracked even more with her next lines.

“Yukina-senpai don’t make me do this! Please! I’ll- I’ll shoot!”

The struggle sounds stopped, Yukina had yet to get up.

* * *

The discord voted for Rinko to tell Tsugumi to shoot Yukina to disable her

* * *

“Hazawa-san! Shoot her in the leg…”  
“The leg? O-okay!”

A loud bang and a heavy grunt of pain greeted her ears. She didn’t watch.

Keba, the pet wallaby, fled at the sound of the gunshot. Rinko hoped they’d find her again. Assuming they lived long enough to.

Ako awakened as well, and Rinko saw her survey the moonlit scene with wide eyes.

“Tsugu-chin… what are you doing to Yukina-san?”  
“A-Ako-chan! It’s not what it looks like!”  
“It’s exactly what it looks like, Ako. Hazawa-san shot me.”  
“Tsugu-chin?!?”  
“Ako-chan… look at where Yukina-san is…”

Rinko could actually pinpoint the exact second Ako’s heart ripped in half.

“Onee-... -chan? Yukina-san, you didn’t do this, right? You wouldn’t do this, right?”  
“You’re right, Ako. I didn’t do this. Hazawa-san did it, and she’s framing me-”  
“W-what?? No, Ako-chan, I didn’t do this!”  
“Ako-chan, I saw Yukina-san strangle her. You have to believe us, it wasn’t Hazawa-san…”  
“Yukina-san… why?”  
“Ask Hazawa-san about their plot to get rid of us. They blamed me for Mitake-san’s and Aoba-san’s deaths, and they wanted revenge. I had to, for you, Ako. For Roselia.”

Yukina got up and hobbled towards Ako.

“Stay back! Stay away from her!”  
“You don’t understand, Hazawa-san. Roselia is my family, and I will protect them. I want to comfort Ako before you kill all of us, won’t you let me do that?”  
“I-I won’t! I won’t let you! I’m not going to kill all of you, please don’t make me do this!”  
“If you can’t shoot me then don’t. Shoot yourself, why don’t you? Join the rest of your band.”  
“Yukina-san no!”  
“I can’t! I can’t, I can’t I can’t. I’m not letting you win!”  
“Then leave us alone. Take your things and go somewhere else.”  
“Rinko-san, Ako-chan, please come with me! I can’t leave you with this murderer!”  
“And leave me to fend for myself with a crippled leg? Ako, Rinko, you wouldn’t do that to a bandmate, would you?”  
“Don’t listen to her!”  
“She wants to tear Roselia apart. I won’t let that happen to us. Stay with me.”

* * *

Here the discord voted for Rinko and Ako to stay with Yukina

* * *

“Hazawa-san, we can’t leave Yukina-san like this…”  
“Yes you can! She killed four people!”  
“Two.”  
“Two people!”  
“See? She blames me for the deaths of Aoba-san and Mitake-san. You know that those weren’t me, right?” Yukina asked, sobbing.  
“Yukina-san didn’t kill Aoba-san and Mitake-san, Hazawa-san. Their deaths were their own…”  
“Rinko-san please!”  
“Tsugu-chin, please stop trying to tear us apart! I can’t leave her…”  
“Ako-chan! You’ve known me for so long! She killed your sister! She killed Himari-chan! How can you forgive that?”

Yukina fell dramatically to the ground. Tsugumi was looking increasingly unhinged. Ako rushed over to Yukina.

“Ako, it hurts so much…”  
“Yukina-san!”

Tsugumi also approached. Time slowed down.

“Fuck this!”

Rinko hadn’t heard Tsugumi even get close to swearing before. It wasn’t a big deal anyway, but it was… jarring.

Tsugumi put the revolver to Yukina’s head, hesitated, and blew the vocalist’s brains out. Onto Ako.

Ako’s deafening scream was cut short by another bullet.

“You want to stay with her? Then stay.”

Rinko scrambled back onto the damp leaves of the bush floor. She could feel the cool breeze, hear the sounds of the crickets, the frogs, the owls. Her own rapid breathing and heartbeat echoed loudly in her head. It was too much.

She faced Tsugumi with tears in her eyes and a nervousness that wasn’t unfamiliar. 

She stared down the barrel of the gun and breathed her last breath.

* * *

Control switch to Tae.

* * *

Since the last announcement, everyone had been anxiously awaiting 7am. Everyone was up, even Kanon, who had woken up on her own. They’d all come down to be with Arisa.

Did the fireworks mean people had died? Because they played this time.

“It is now 7am! Congratulations to the 15 of you for making it through another 12 hours!”

“FUCK!”

“There are now 15 of you left. Himari Uehara, Tomoe Udagawa, Yukina Minato, Ako Udagawa, and Rinko Shirokane are now dead!”

Oh. That was bad.

“That’s all the announcements for now. I’ll see you this evening, if you’re lucky. Happy killing!”

“How did five of us die in one night?”  
“And how come it was all from the group we sent out to get Himari-chan and Lisa-san?”  
“It wasn’t the whole group that died though, was it?”  
“Correct. In that group we had all of Afterglow minus Himari-chan, and all of Roselia except for Lisa-san and Sayo-senpai. We lost Ran-chan and Moca-chan at night, making Afterglow 3 members and the whole group at least 6. Assuming they found Lisa, they lost her during the day, which could’ve been right before the announcements. Overnight, we lost Tomoe-san and Himari-chan, and Himari-chan might’ve been found by that group by then. We also lost Yukina-senpai, Rinko-senpai, and Ako-chan, making the ‘group’ just Tsugumi-chan.”  
“So what are you implying?”  
“I’m not implying anything! I’m just making sure everyone understands, geez.”  
“Hagumi still doesn’t understand!”  
“So basically, Tsugu’s the last one standing out of the group that split from us! That could mean a lot of things…”  
“Oh.”  
“Like that they fought off a huge monster, and only Tsugu survived!”  
“Ah, an epic battle against a wicked beast… how fleeting…”  
“Kasumi, Kaoru-san, I don’t think there are any huge monsters around these parts. They don’t even have bears.”  
“Oh yeah. Does that mean they fought each other then? I know they were competitive, but…”

Saya looked like she was struggling.

“I think Tsugumi killed all of them.”

Everyone slowly turned their heads towards Tae.

“What? It could happen.”  
“O-Tae, I don’t know that she’s even capable of that.”  
“Of course she is, right Rimi-rin? You were telling us earlier that anyone could be a terrible monster no matter how timid, right? Just like in your horror novels?”  
“O-Tae-chan, I was talking a-about w-werewolves, remember?”  
“I think it’s still applicable.”  
“How though? Weren’t they spread out over 3 12-hour periods? You’d think she’d’ve been caught by the others by then, right?”  
“Maybe she had them scatter and hunted them down one by one?”  
“That’s horrible! I don’t think Tsugu would do that…”  
“Hmmmm… I guess you’re right. Maybe it was something else, and Tsugumi didn’t kill anyone.”  
“Maybe they met another group?”  
“There are still some people unaccounted for, namely Okusawa-san, Hina-senpai, Maya-san, Eve, and Sayo-senpai. Any of them, or any group of them, could’ve done it.”  
“Hagumi is scared now… Hagumi knows Mii-kun wouldn’t do that sort of thing, and Hagumi wants to think nobody would, but…”  
“Awww Hagu… c’mere. It’s ok! We have people here who can protect us! And you’re really strong too, Hagu! It’ll be ok.”  
“I vow to protect my kittens with every ounce of my being”  
“And I vow to protect the group, too.”

Arisa put her hand on Tae’s arm.

* * *

Arisa broke off the kiss first, leaving Tae hanging for a second.

“Oi O-Tae, can I talk to you about something serious?”

With everyone back to activities, Tae and Arisa were practically alone. Alone enough to kiss for once, which was nice.

“What is it?”  
“Well, I… I don’t think we can trust everyone, especially with my broken leg.”  
“I don’t follow.”  
“Well, I know popipa wouldn’t do it, but I’m kind of a liability now. Sometimes people kill off liabilities to keep from being weighed down.”  
“Oh.”  
“We have to be the first ones to strike. Does that make sense?”  
“Yeah. Who, though?”

* * *

The discord voted for Arisa and Tae to target Aya.

* * *

“Aya-senpai. She’s been acting really strange lately, even I can tell that much. If anyone’s going to snap and kill me it’s her.”  
“I’ve seen it too… she’d kill you?”  
“She’d kill anyone who got in her way. She looks cute-”  
“She’s adorable~”  
“But I think she has the heart of a murderer.”  
“So you’re going to kill her before she can get to you then?”  
“Me? With this bum leg? No way! That’s where you come in. I need you to do this for me, O-Tae… I don’t want to die…”  
“I don’t want you to die either.”

Tae had said many times before that she would be her knight, that she would fight and die for Arisa, but this wouldn’t be a real fight, would it?

“So… how do I do it then? I can’t just duel her, can I?”  
“Of course not, that’s too suspicious. You need to lure her out to the forest at night or something.”

* * *

Here it was asked, without a formal poll, what way Tae should attempt to lure Aya to a good murder spot. The (gay) consensus was seduction.

* * *

“Do I seduce her?”  
“Playing to your strengths, I like it.”  
“Is that my strength?” Tae asked, cocking her head. Arisa must’ve said those words without thinking, because her cheeks were turning pinker by the second.  
“W-well yeah, I mean, you’re… y’know…”  
“Do I know?” she asked, smiling at the compliment. It almost felt normal, like Arisa wasn’t putting a hit out on someone.  
“You’re kind of- it’s a skill, see, and- one of the few things you’re good at-”  
“I see.”  
“So yeah. Seduction… might… work.”  
“And if it doesn’t?”  
“Pretend you heard a noise out there and get her to investigate or something, I don’t know!”  
“What will you give me if I do it?”  
“A kiss.”  
“But I can have those whenever I want?”  
“You- Yeah. Ok, fine. What do you want?”  
“I desire… a debt. You owe me one.”  
“Fair enough, I suppose. It has to be something I can actually do though.”  
“Got it.”

Seduce Aya. Lure her into the woods. Kill her. Hide tracks.

She can do that, right?


	32. And I WILL Beat Incest Shippers With Their Own Teeth If They So Much As Glance At This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hina-centric chapter in which she and Sayo have a talk. See chapter title, I WILL beat incest shippers with their own teeth if they so much as glance at this.

Hina was trying to keep herself busy and not annoy her sister, really she was, but… 

She wasn’t moving. She wasn’t talking. She wasn’t eating. She just sat on a rock by the lake looking at nothing and miming guitar chords slowly to herself, according to the others. Was she in denial or something? Was she trying to distract herself? 

Whatever it was, it was creeping Hina out, and no doubt creeping out the others in the group too.

“What’s the matter, Hina-san?”  
“Aren’t you kinda creeped out, Misaki-chan?”  
“What? By what?”  
“My twin, duh. She’s acting super duper weirdly, right?”  
“I don’t think it’s that weird to be stressed when the entire rest of your band is dead.”  
“I guess not, but… I’m worried about her.”  
“If you’re that worried about her, go talk to her.”  
“But I don’t want to annoy her!”  
“Then don’t?”  
“Yeah but I’m concerned!”  
“Then do it.”

Hina pouted.

“Look, I know you’ve been avoiding her in case she loses it. That’s reasonable. If you think she’ll listen to you though, maybe it’s worth a shot? It’s not really up to me though, you have to decide that for yourself.”  
“I want to save her. I want us to be ok! I don’t want her to get angry at me, but I think you’re right. I have to try, don’t I?”  
“Do you?”  
“I do! Thanks for the help, Misaki-chan!”  
“But I didn’t do anything-”  
“Bye-bye!”

Gesture of good will, that’s what she needed. Hmmm… 

Maybe she could fill Sayo’s water bottle and bring it to her? She needed to drink, after all! Yeah!

Hina rifled through Sayo’s bag without her permission to find and fill her water bottle.

Having done that, she approached the teal-haired twin. She didn’t hear Hina walk in from behind her, or perhaps she didn’t care, because she didn’t respond.

Hina waved and sat before her. Sayo, having noticed her now, didn’t react with immediate frustration or disgust, which was… probably a good sign, right? She offered her sister the bottle.

“Hina…”

She stopped miming guitar chords and accepted the bottle, but didn’t start drinking.

“Onee-chan… are you ok?”  
“No.”  
“Valid. I know I lost Chisato-chan, but you lost your whole band. That’s really sad, huh?”  
“Indeed.”

One-word answers weren’t uncommon from Sayo, but they weren’t usually said in such a detached way. Usually she was frustrated when she did that, but this time she seemed so… distant.

“Hina?”  
“Yes?”  
“Are you fully devoted?”

Ah! That was a Roselia thing, right? Of course Hina was devoted, she put her soul into everything she did!

“Yes!”  
“To me?”  
“Yep!”  
“To us?”  
“Of course! I love you. You’re the best sister I have!”  
“I’m the only sister you have.”

Some semblance of humour, that was promising.

“Do you want to win this with me?”

Ah. 

“Win what?”  
“This game.”

Keep it cool, Hina. She might mean something else, and besides, what wouldn’t she do anyway? If it meant keeping her sister and herself alive, what wouldn’t she do?

“Yes, I want to win.”  
“Good. You’ll listen to me, your dearest older sister, won’t you?”  
“I will.”  
“I’m going to suggest something now, and I need you to be good about it.”  
“No problem!”  
“Hina, we need to kill.”

Ok, so it was that. Ok! Alright. Cool. Boppin’.

“We do?”  
“We do.”

There was a painful pause.

“Who?”  
“M-Maya-chan!”  
“You have chosen to kill Yamato-san?”  
“W-what? No! That’s wasn’t what I meant!”  
“Then what did you mean?”  
“I meant I wanted to save Maya-chan!”  
“Then who are you killing?”  
“... Eve-chan.”  
“Aren’t you forgetting someone? You’re smarter than this, Hina.”

Forgetting someone? No, she wasn’t forgetting anyone. She just had no choice.

“I’m not forgetting anyone, onee-chan.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean that I can’t kill Misaki-chan. Not with you. Especially now that your band is dead, you need someone. I know you’re going to deny it, but I also know that I’m right. I want you to be happy, onee-chan!”

Sayo finally took a swig from her water bottle.

“If I’m wrong, I’ll-”  
“Thank you, Hina.”

She… she’d thanked her. Her sister, her usually cold sister who was trying so hard to be better, had thanked her. It’d happened genuinely very few times that Hina could remember, and she treasured each and every one of them. 

Was it wrong to treasure a moment in which she had been instructed to kill?

If it was, Hina didn’t want to be right.

“So… how do we do it then? I’m good, but I’m not nearly good enough to duel her on fair terms.”  
“Same way anyone does it. Wait until you’re on watch with her, lead her away on patrol, take her out. Strangle her, stab her, beat her with a rock, I don’t care.”  
“Got it.”  
“And Hina?”  
“Yes?”  
“I care about you.”

That was a step further than just thanking her. That was… actual niceness.

“Don’t get caught.”  
“Understood!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean for this to take the whole chapter lmAO


	33. Kasumichelle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're going to have to prepare yourself for Kaoru ruining Shakespeare references in this chapter because I had fun absolutely butchering this. I know that's not what's meant in the actual play. Let me enjoy this.  
> (:  
> This is your warning.

“I know! How about we play tic tac toe?”  
“Naughts and crosses?”  
“Yeah! That way we can take our minds off of the deaths of our friends!”

Kasumi didn’t have to say it like that, Kanon thought. She had a point, though. Maybe it was a good idea… 

“You two can go and then I’ll play the winner!”  
“K-Kasumi-chan, what do we play with? We don’t have any pens or paper…”  
“Yeah we do! Ah, but we probably shouldn’t waste it, huh. We can draw on the ground!”  
“Good idea, Kasumi-chan! Let’s find some sticks and rocks!”  
“Thanks, Aya-senpai!”

The three set about finding sticks and small enough rocks, as it was their free time and they didn’t know what else to do. Kanon wasn’t finding as much as the other two… 

Eventually though, they set up a 3x3 board made out of sticks that were roughly the same size.

* * *

Discord decided that the three will play a fun game for a prize.

* * *

“I have an idea for what happens to the winner!”  
“K-Kasumi-chan, I don’t like the sound of that…”  
“What happens?”  
“The winner gets to trade the loser’s Michelle Medal for something! It’s ok because there’s three of us, right?”  
“Fuee…”

Kanon couldn’t afford to lose, not with 1 Michelle Medal. Aya had 3, right? She could afford to. All she had to do was make Aya lose, it didn’t matter much if she or Kasumi won at that point. Had Kasumi even thought of that?

Kanon got the pale quartz rocks, Aya the orange coffee rocks. Easy enough to tell the difference.

* * *

The dicebot was rolled several times to decide what happens here.

* * *

Aya and Kanon did scissors-paper-rock for who went first. They went on rock, and Aya won with scissors vs paper.

Predictably, Aya put her rock in the centre. Kanon didn’t want to lose though.

And… she didn’t. Aya kept looking at them both, seemingly pretty distracted, and she lost. If Kasumi lost against Kanon, she’d have to duel Aya directly, so Aya might not lose if Kanon won the next round, but… Aya could afford to lose, right? Kanon didn’t want to win, she just didn’t want to lose.

Kasumi won with paper vs rock.

Predictably again, Kasumi put her rock in the centre.

Kasumi outplayed her, and Kanon lost this time.

“I… I lost…”  
“You sure did, Aya-senpai! Hand over the goods.”  
“Goods?!?”  
“I’m kidding! Just one medal, please. I’ll spend it right away and you won’t even have to think about it!”  
“Alright…”

Aya, like some of the more cutesy members of the group, had pinned her Michelle Medals to the breast of her shirt, so it was easy for her to remove one to hand to Kasumi.

Immediately, Kanon heard Kasumi shout.

“HEY! HEEEYYY~! VOICE-CHAN! I WANNA TRADE A MEDAL!”

A pause.

“Kasumi Toyama, you wish to trade one of your Michelle Medals for randomly-chosen supplies?”  
“Yup!”  
“Stand by. When the helicopter drops the line, attach your badge firmly to it. Do not attempt to climb the line. Understood?”  
“I understand completely!”

Kanon was nervous. What if Kasumi got a weapon and killed her right then and there? What if a bomb was dropped down and it killed all of them? What if- 

Aya was holding her hand now. Kanon looked up at her, and Aya smiled.

"It's ok, Kanon-chan! I'll stand by you, same as at work! It'll be ok!"

And then the helicopter was there again, as it was for Rimi’s.

Kasumi affixed the medal, waited a bit, and then a very large box was dropped gently at their feet.

Oh dear.

Kasumi opened it.

“Ah!”

Kanon screamed at the sudden noise.

“It’s ok, Kanon-senpai! Look! It’s just a Michelle head! It doesn’t look much like the real Michelle, though…”

Kasumi pulled it out of the box and put it on her head. She was right, it didn’t look that much like Michelle. For one thing, it was in Kasumi’s scarlet image colour instead of the familiar pink, and for another it had what looked like Kasumi’s hairclips pinned by its ear.

It was kinda cute… 

“Oh! It’s adorable, Kasumi-chan! B-but are you ok in there? What if it’s a trap?”  
“Ah… ehehe, I hadn’t thought of that. Hold on, I’ll take it off.”

Kasumi reached up to her head to take it off. 

It didn’t come off.

Kasumi was trying harder, laughing about how it must’ve gotten stuck or something.

She was grunting now… what should Kanon do? Should she try and pull it off, or would that be worse?

* * *

Here the discord had a very important, very complicated poll. There were only 4 emojis presented, but what was tied with what could have influenced a lot. They voted to let kasumi figure it out for herself.

* * *

Kanon didn’t want to be responsible for making it worse… what if she got really hurt? What if she died, and Kanon was the one who made it happen? What if she wasn’t the one to make it happen because she got there too late, but everyone saw her with the body and blamed her?

Kasumi was making choking noises now, and her movements were much more violent. Kanon couldn’t even bring herself to scream.

Kanon looked wide-eyed at Aya, who was similarly paralyzed, and they heard a whine. 

Looking back to Kasumi, she watched the younger girl pull the Michelle head off without issue. She looked distressed, but unharmed.

“You guys were supposed to help me~!”

Kanon stared incredulously at Kasumi for a while, and it was Aya who spoke first.

“Y-you mean… that was a prank?”  
“Yeah, and you guys were supposed to try and get it off~!” Kasumi whined again.

“K-Kasumi-chan, we didn’t want to make it worse or anything, so-”  
“So you left me to deal with it alone? You didn’t even talk to me! Or tell me to calm down! You didn’t do anything…”  
“Kasumi-chan-”  
“Forget it.”  
“What?”  
“Forget about it. It was just my stupid prank, I guess it doesn’t mean anything. Don’t talk about it.”  
“O-okay?”  
“If you say so…”

Kasumi stood dejected for a few moments until Tae, Saya, Kaoru, and Hagumi crashed through the brush.

“Kaa-kun! Kano-chan-senpai! Aya-senpai! We saw a helicopter like zoom and it came over here, did you see it?”  
“Hagu! Yeah we did, we traded a medal! I got this, isn’t it cool?”

Kasumi proudly displayed her Michelle head to the four before donning it again, seemingly over it already.

“Look, I’m like Michelle now! But a weird Kasumi-Michelle… Kasumichelle?” She queried.

Hagumi had stars in her eyes.

“Kasumichelle!” Hagumi exclaimed, overjoyed.

It was nice to see Hagumi happy, and Kaoru too, even if the other two were a little weirded out.

“Wait, if I’m a -chelle, am I in Hello, Happy World! or Poppin’Party? Is it ok to be a -chelle if I’m from Poppin’Party?”

Kaoru has something to say about this, doesn’t she?

“‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy-”

Enemy? But their bands collaborated all the time-

“Thou art thyself, though not Poppin’Party.  
What’s Poppin’Party? It is nor hand, nor foot,  
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part  
Belonging to a woman. O, be some other name!”

Other name?

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,  
By any other name smells as sweet;”

Ah, that quote again. Couldn’t she just use the short version?

“So Kasumichelle, were she not Kasumichelle call’d,  
Retain that dear perfection which she owes  
Without that title. Kasumichelle, doff thy name,  
And for that name which is not part of thee  
Take all myself.”

An awkward pause occurred while Kasumi and the rest processed that.

“I don’t get it, but ok!”

Of course she would. Kinda like Kokoro… 

“Wait, ‘doff my name’? Like, I shouldn’t be called that any more? Hold on! I want to be… umm…”  
“...”  
“Cutie!”  
“Yes honey?”  
“No, I wasn’t talking to you O-Tae! That’s my new name! You can just all call me that.”  
“Kasumi, I don’t think-”  
“That’s Cutie to you too, Saya. I have been reborn! I’m not Kasumi any more, and I never will be again!”  
"Isn't there a better name? 'Cutie' is kind of embarrassing, and it makes it sound like everyone's in love with you."  
"And aren't they?"  
"Well..." Saya said, blush creeping onto her cheeks.

She sure did make weird rash decisions, and she went along with what Kaoru said without fully understanding it, and… yeah that was a pretty Kokoro move. Kanon could see why they were girlfriends before… before she’d died. Poor Kokoro… 

Kaoru was positively glowing. She radiated pride like a green chunk of uranium in a cartoon did ‘gamma rays’. This had gone better than she’d hoped, huh. She was mumbling something, too.

“Kaoru-san, what were you saying?”  
“I take thee at thy word:  
Call me but ‘love’, and I’ll be new baptized;  
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.” She enunciated.  
“Is that the next part of the play?”  
“That it is, kitten, and I do believe that our dear Cutie is playing it well. Hers is actually the role of Romeo and mine that of Juliet this time, which is unusual for me. Fleeting, is it not?”  
“Oh right, Chisato-chan told me about the production of Romeo and Juliet you put on when we went out for tea later that week. She said you improvised?”  
“On those very lines, no less. ‘Indeed. A name hath not meaning. I am I, and thou art thou’. Inspired by the dame herself, were those words. I-”  
“You?”  
“Let us find somewhere better suited to a private conversation, Kanon.”  
“Excuse us a moment, please! We just need to talk…”

Kasumi broke from her conversation with the others to give her a strange look that only passed over her face for less than a second.

“Ok! We’ll be nearby if you need us.”

Kaoru moved Kanon just out of earshot, not far enough to get lost.

“I find it hard to believe that she’s gone. She was so… powerful. Sweet, too. Marina-san said that the traps were non-lethal, and your story from when we began seems to agree with that, so that means that some cruel soul chose to take her from this world. I would like to believe that it was not one of us, that perhaps one of the brigands with guns we met at the start is to blame, but…”  
“But?”  
“I find it hard to believe that Chii-chan would prompt that. It seemed that they would only resort to violence when rules were broken or when given the order. In other words, Chisato can only have been killed by one of us.”  
“Fuee~”  
“I would like to be able to trust everyone, but alas, it is obvious that I must not. I do not mean to worry you, dearest Kanon, but you must act with caution, for the shadows of evil may cast themselves over any.”  
“I can’t believe anyone would kill Chisato-chan, even now, but you’re probably right. She might’ve been harsh at times, but I don’t think anyone should be able to hold a grudge against her. She was a good person, right?” Kanon asked, stifling the tears that threatened her eyes.  
“That she was. We would know, after all.”  
“Mhm! Hey, Kaoru-san?”  
“Yes?”  
“That Romeo and Juliet stuff… does it actually mean any of that?”

Kaoru laughed at her. Had she asked a stupid question again? Kanon tried to giggle with her. She and Kaoru stared at each other for exactly 3 ever-more-agonizing seconds before both looking away, embarrassed.

“Who can say?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I had fun butchering that Romeo and Juliet reference with Kaoru, you're welcome for the discomfort it undoubtedly caused. Yes Kasumi's new name is solely so that I could make the "Yes honey?" joke because I love kasutae and Kasumi needs as much affection as possible, and trust me _I know that that's not quite what Romeo means with "Call me but love"._  
>  Don't worry, Kasumi miiiight change her name to something less awkward by the next time we see her group.
> 
> Also there were far more false ends than usual for that poll, which you can see if you join the discord server at https://discord.gg/vUhqsgr !  
> I'll tell you this, the different results determined whether it was a trap or a prank, because it's my fic and reality can be whatever I want. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily?) for you, leaving Kasumi to do it herself made it a prank.  
> (:


	34. How to Get Rich Quickly

Tsugumi got up, wiping her tears on her sleeve. She’d had a small breakdown after burying her bandmates while trying to hold a service, but she was over it now, right?

* * *

Here the discord voted to bury Roselia

* * *

She should probably bury the others though too, huh? They might be murderers, but they deserved burial too.

“Ako-chan… I’m sorry…”

Tsugumi had gotten several splinters already from the branch she was using to dig the graves, but that was a small price to pay. Three bandaids out of the fifty odd she’d collected was nothing, comparatively speaking. She could get hurt a lot before it even mattered, assuming she wasn’t killed instantly and could get away.

She didn’t want to be killed… she didn’t want to die. And she wouldn’t! She can’t give up! She has to be Tsugurific like Moca wanted!

It had taken a long time to dig Ako’s grave though, and she still had Rinko’s and Yukina’s to go. Maybe something differently stimulating would be better for her while she rested?

She picked up Rinko’s puzzle box, as it was nearby. Maybe she could work one of these out?

* * *

Here the discord solved Rinko’s puzzle box with a pretty easy pigpen cipher leading to a vocaloid song because mod loves them some vocaloid

* * *

Rinko’s puzzle box does not vex Tsugumi, and she figured it out in mere minutes. Within it, she found 3 Michelle Medals, which makes 6 with the 3 she stole from Chisato. This was fun! She should do another one.

She rifled through Yukina’s bag to find hers.

* * *

Here the discord solved Yukina’s puzzle box with a puzzle that lead to a visit to WoWWiki because mod loves them some WoW

* * *

Oh! Super lucky! She got 4 this time. Better keep it up, she might be able to get a lot with this! Time for Ako’s, maybe?

* * *

Here the discord solved Ako’s puzzle box

* * *

Hmm… only 2 this time. That was ok though, she still had 12! She should probably do her own now, huh?

* * *

Here they solved Tsugumi’s own puzzle box

* * *

Hmmm… 2 again. One more, then? She’d open Himari’s and Tomoe’s later, she reasoned.

* * *

And here they solved Lisa’s puzzle box

* * *

Ah! 4! This brought her to 18, and at least 20 when she got around to opening Himari’s and Tomoe’s boxes. That put her 16 ahead of any other individual!

Giddy, Tsugumi decided to spend some right then.

“Um! I’d like to spend a Michelle Medal now, please?”

A pause.

“Tsugumi Hazawa, you would like to trade one of your Michelle Medals for randomly chosen supplies?”  
“Yes please!”  
“Stand by. When the helicopter drops the line, attach your badge firmly to it. Do not attempt to climb the line. Understood?”  
“Understood!”

Eventually, a helicopter showed up. She followed procedure, and a box dropped to the ground. There was a note inside of it.

Package Code 17  
1/1  
Congratulations on your new crowbar. (:

“Excuse me! I’d like another one please!”

She went through the process again, and again she got a package.

Package Code 7  
1/1  
Congratulations on your new 2 days’ worth of normal rations. (:

Considering that these might be poisoned only briefly, Tsugumi tucked in. She’d not had lunch yet, which was to be berries anyway. This was more nutritious, probably! Here there was meat, bread, and hardtack. She sat on Ako’s grave and ate, not thinking of very much at all.

When done with lunch, she decided to do some re-packing. The crowbar would probably be useful, so she strapped that to the outside of the pack. Thinking that ten was a perfectly reasonable number of knives to have, she made room for those inside, putting two in a side pocket.

To make room for all the new stuff she’d gotten, she had to move something out. Much as she’d like to carry everything, the bag simply wouldn’t close. She decided to dump some clothes, along with a few other things. If she got out of here quickly enough then she wouldn’t need them, right? 

She did decide to keep some items of clothing, though. The hand-me-downs from Tomoe, mostly. Looking at them almost brought her to tears again, and that was no good! She did want to be reminded of her girlfriend anyway, sad or not, so she kept them.

It was still heavy when she was done, but she refused to let that bother her. Now just to bury Yukina and Rinko and then get back to the others!

* * *

Here the discord voted for Tsugumi to not take Michelle when she goes to see the others. This was actually in a combination poll with whether to bury the Roselia members or not, but the author is choosing to insert this fact here as this is where it's relevant.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can come join us in the decision-making at https://discord.gg/vUhqsgr !  
> I've recently gotten back from a hiatus, so you can expect (more) regular posting again now!


	35. Eve's First QTEs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> QTE is a videogame term, it's short for "Quick Time Event", meaning a section in a game where you have a short time limit to do a certain prompted input, such as pressing/hammering/holding a button or tilting the controller. This input determines whether the player character succeeds or fails that action in the scene. Often, failure of one action means a game over.  
> (:

Eve sat in dutiful, watchful silence with Hina by the edge of the clearing.

“Eve-chan, I have to go take care of some ‘business’. You alright if I leave for a bit? I’ll be back in a few!” Hina whispered.

Eve was hesitant to let her go on her own, but it wasn’t something new. She’d be back soon, so it was fine. She nodded, and Hina walked north in a straight line, disappearing into the bush.

3 minutes. 5. 10. 15. Eve was starting to really worry, so before it could reach 20 she made her way into the bush to pursue. It was hard to track by moonlight alone, so she flipped her lighter open to follow Hina’s tracks.

It was taking a long time to get to her… how far had she gone exactly?

A crash. A cry. Eve sped up, headed towards the sound. It must be Hina! In trouble!

“Bastard! Coward!”

Hina was on the ground, bruised and bleeding. Eve could see no assailant.

“Eve-chan! Help me up? I got attacked!”  
“O-oh! Sure thing, Hina-san!”

Eve bent down to lift hina up.

* * *

Here the discord had to reach 3 votes in an hour, because the author wasn’t expecting much. They reached 7 votes in 2 minutes.

* * *

She started to pull the shorter girl up, but something gleamed in the moonlight. Startled, Eve dropped her to dodge.

* * *

Here I gave them a much more challenging goal, and they failed by one vote. However, one of them decided to do some lovely art. I gave them the choice of two free successes OR one free success and a secret route unlock. They chose the single success and secret route.

* * *

Before Eve had time to totally process it, Hina leapt into her, trying again to get a stab in. Eve blocked. 

Hina was… trying to stab her? Why?

* * *

Here I gave them a slightly more challenging goal than the last, which they failed by two votes. Again, though, the author was bribed with art. This netted the discord the final success and made the secret route true.

* * *

Fumbling, Eve reached for the knife at her belt. Eve was barely keeping Hina from sinking her blade into flesh when she swung. It connected, going… in… 

It went deep into the muscle of Hina’s left arm as it went across and out. Hina fell.

Eve felt like she was going to puke. It was one thing to talk about samurai and practice kendo, but she’d just hurt her friend! With violence!

“Hina-san!”

Hina looked up at her, tears welling in her eyes.

“Ohmygosh, we have to get you back to camp! Hold on, uhh… um!”

Eve ripped a long strip of fabric from the leg of her pants. As she wrapped it around the deep gash, it was dyed a dark crimson.

It’d look bad if she did this on her own, and worse if she failed. Eve decided to rush Hina back to camp for treatment. She hooked Hina’s good arm over her shoulder and started power-walking back to camp.

“Help! Somebody help! Hina-san is hurt!” 

Maya was the first up. Misaki was the next, unzipping the tent while shaking Sayo awake.

* * *

Here the discord was polled on what Eve should tell the group. They voted for her to tell “the whole truth”

* * *

Maya fetched her medical supplies while Misaki and Sayo guided Hina to lie down on her towel.

“Wakamiya-san, what the hell happened?”

Eve had to think on this for a second. She didn’t want to get a friend in trouble, nor did she want to admit to hurting her, but… 

Bushido means telling the truth, doesn’t it? Honesty and loyalty, no matter what?

Maya hurried to stabilize her, undoing eve’s pants-bandage, pinching the wound closed, coating it liberally with antiseptic, and wrapping her bandages as tightly as possible around the arm.

“It’d be a lot better if we had a needle and surgical thread! That or those ants, huhehe. You guys remember, army ants? You can get them to bite a wound closed and then decapitate them to use them as sutures.”  
“I think I did see that on TV, yeah. Hold on, I’ll get her some painkillers.”

Maya finished bandaging, and Misaki had her drink some panadol down. She looked like she was going to choke for a second there, but she drank eagerly enough after that. 

“Wakamiya-san, what happened to Hina-san?”  
“W-well! Hina-san got attacked… and…”  
“And..?”  
“I didn’t see the assailant, but when I got there and helped Hina-san up, she… attacked me.”  
“Hina-san attacked you?”  
“She did.”

Here Eve started crying. Maya pulled out some bandaids and applied them to the smaller cuts while Sayo held Hina’s good hand.

“And I- I- I hurt her back! She was trying to k-kill me, I think, and I tried to just hold her off, but she kept- kept coming, and I had t-”  
“Wakamiya-san, calm down. You say Hina-san attacked you, and that you retaliated?”

Eve nodded vigorously, trembling now.

“Hina-san… I’m so sorry!”

Misaki and Sayo sighed simultaneously.

“And how do we-”  
“...”  
“How do-”

Misaki and Sayo had started talking in sync, too. That was weird!

“You first, Sayo-san.”  
“Thank you. Wakamiya-san, how do we know you’re not lying? She’s the one roughed up here, you look almost unscathed. How do we know you didn't just attack her?”  
“H-hold on, Sayo-san! Eve-san wouldn’t do that!”  
“Neither would Hina-san, though, I don’t think.”  
“If Eve-san did it, why not finish her off out there? Why bring her back? She could easily have killed her without breaking a sweat! Uh, sorry, Hina-san, huhehe…”  
“Wait, so Hina-san was attacked by someone else before you got there? Care to verify that, Hina?”

* * *

The discord voted for Hina to tell the truth that she was not, in fact, attacked by anyone else. She will omit the fact that she hurt herself to get Eve’s attention, though.

* * *

“Nobody else attacked me. I went out into the bush to do… y’know... and Eve-chan assaulted me. Please don’t let her hurt me again!”  
“W-what? That’s a lie! Hina-san, you were covered in scrapes and cuts when I got there! If you weren’t attacked by anyone else, then-”  
“Wakamiya-san, that’s enough.”  
“B-but!”  
“Sayo-san’s right. Would it kill you to admit that you fought her?”  
“B-but we didn’t fight over anything! S-she attacked m-me, and then I had t- I had to-”  
“Why would she attack you? She knows you’re stronger than her, and we can tell that by how she looks awful. She also obviously didn’t fight back, since you’re unharmed.”  
“Eve-san… please tell me you didn’t do this…”  
“Maya-san, I didn’t! I swear! Attacking your friends isn’t bushido!”

Maya’s perfect green eyes were lit by the dancing flame of Misaki’s lighter. They were filled with doubt.

“I want to believe you, but…”  
“But?!?”  
“I can’t ignore Hina-san’s injuries. I’m sorry, Eve-san.”  
“M-Maya-san! I swear, it’s not what it looks like! She’s trying to get me in trouble!”  
“By crippling her arm?”  
“Yes! I mean no! I did that! I’m sorry, Hina-san!”  
“Hold on, are you saying she’s trying to frame you?”  
“Yes!”  
“So she what, provoked you?”  
“Yes! I mean no! It’s true that she got me to do that big slice, but…”

But what, Eve? What do you even say to that kind of an accusation?

“Let’s get back to that, actually. Even if the others weren’t your fault, why would you hit her that hard even in self-defense?”  
“It did get through a lot of muscle, even if it didn’t quite hit bone…”  
“I… maybe I don’t know my own strength?”  
“I find that hard to believe. You practice kendo daily, I think you should have an idea on how hard to hit.”  
“It was an emergency situation! I was scared! I’m still scared!”  
“That’s no excuse, Eve-san. Hina-san, can you move your fingers for me?”

The top of Hina’s arm spasmed, but there was barely a twitch from her fingers. A fresh spurt of blood dampened the bandages, fresh tears also dampening Hina’s cheeks. Misaki, Maya, and Sayo exchanged worried looks.

“Look. Say your story again.”  
“O-okay. Hina went off into the bush. I followed her after she didn’t come back. I found her yelling about bastards and cowards, and she was all cut up. She told me she’d been attacked! I helped her up, and that’s when she tried to stab me. We struggled, and when I managed to…”  
“To..?”  
“To… hit her, she backed off. I helped her back here. You know the rest! So please!”  
“Hold on, she has a point. She took Hina-san back here. Why bring her back if she was fighting her? Why spare her at all?”  
“To make an example, maybe? I know I’m scared of her now.”  
“M-Misaki-san! I’m not s-scary, am I?”  
“You’re scaring me too, Wakamiya-san. Have you really not noticed the blood on your hands? My twin sister is in pain, which you freely admit to being at least partly at fault for. You really think we’re too stupid to realize you might do it again?”  
“No! I mean…”  
“Eve-san, you’re… you’re scaring me too. I didn’t think I’d ever see you like this.”

Eve’s head was reeling. She couldn’t process all of this, could she?

Something clicked. The shaking stopped.

“I’ve disgraced myself, haven’t I? I hurt a fellow soldier. That is true dishonour. I-”  
“Eve-san, if you’re saying what I think you’re saying then don’t. She’s not dead yet.”  
“Yet!”  
“Yes, yet. There’s no reason for you to end your life over this.”  
“B-but you all suspect me! You think I’m a bully, and I hurt Hina-san, and I can’t. I can’t. I can’t!”  
“Eve-san, please calm down. Everyone, what do we want to do with her?”

And just like that, the trembling returned.

* * *

Here the discord was asked what to do with Eve. They voted to keep her in the group under constant supervision.

* * *

“Please let me stay! I don’t want to go out there alone, and I…”

Wait. They wouldn’t execute her for this, would they? She began to whine in panic.

“Wakamiya-san, pipe down.”  
“I don’t want to exile her guys, can we please let her stay?”  
“I’m not sure I believe either of their stories yet, so I guess we can keep her around. Maybe Hina-san is trying to frame Wakamiya-san, maybe Wakamiya-san is trying to do… something like that. Maybe Hina was attacked by someone else and this is a weird cover story. We can probably keep her around at least for a little while, under the condition that she be under constant surveillance. One or two of us with her at all times, no privacy, no letting her and Hina-san near each other without one of us sort of thing. Does that sound reasonable?”

Eve looked to Hina, who was staring at Misaki with tears steadily streaming from her eyes. Eve half expected her to cause a ruckus about not letting her remain with the party, to scream, to sob harder, to beg them to make her leave or even kill her. She did none of this.

“Sounds decent, I suppose. One more strike and you’re out, though, understood?”  
“Y-yes!”  
“Yamato-san?”  
“If that’s what it takes to keep her with me, then yes. Hina-san?”

Hina said nothing for a long time. Maya waved her hand in front of her face.

“H-”  
“Fine.”  
“She can stay then?”  
“Mm. You’ll be watching her?”  
“Of course.”

Eve’s heart felt like it was shattering further with each expression of distrust. Just how much spirit did she have left?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can help with future QTEs by joining the discord with https://discord.gg/vUhqsgr !


	36. AyaTae Rights!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AyaTae rights!

Aya sat atop a large orange rock watching the group, who were sleeping more or less in one long cuddlepile. At one end was Arisa, trying to keep her broken leg away from Tae, who slept next to Saya, who slept next to Kasumi, next to Rimi, next to Kaoru, next to Kanon, next to Hagumi.

Rimi, when awake, was still suffering being next to Kaoru, but she didn’t want to be apart from her either. Kanon and Hagumi were cuddling like they were about to be ripped apart; Kanon because she’s terrified of getting lost, Hagumi because she’s just a very cuddly person.

Aya watched as Tae rose from her place next to Saya, careful not to wake her. Aya was incredibly bored, and yet incredibly unable to entertain herself, so when Tae approached her she perked up.

“Tae-chan! What’s up?” she whispered.  
“Me! I’m up.” Tae whispered back, with an unusual tone not uncommon for Tae.  
“Was there something you wanted?”  
“You.”

Aya’s face immediately heated up.

“W-what?”  
“I want you.”  
“For like, a favour or something?”  
“Hmmm… I guess you could put it like that.”

Tae joined her on the rock. 

Aya couldn’t get her mind off of if Tae meant what she suspected she meant. Tae was cute, and she was somewhat starved. Kasumi was fine and all, but she was distracted by her bandmates, and Aya by her own, in a way. Aya was used to Hina, Maya, Eve, and… Chisato, as well. She shouldn’t really think about that, huh?

She decided to change the topic before she could think too much on Chisato, and before Tae could embarrass her with whatever ‘favour’ she wanted.

“Uhhh… nice night tonight, huh?”  
“Beautiful, yep. Not as beautiful as you, though.”  
“Eh?”  
“It kinda reminds me of you, y’know?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well I guess it’s like all of us? Kasumi mentioned once how both of you wanted to be stars, and she doesn’t stop talking about you, Aya-senpai. We’re stars too, and stars are in the sky, so you remind me of the sky.”

Aya didn’t quite follow, but okay.

“Why, do you want to be compared to something else? I could recite that one that Kaoru does if you’d like?”  
“The summer’s day one?”  
“Yup! I’m pretty sure I can remember all of it now. I like listening to her.”  
“Y-yeah… she’s interesting. I don’t think I need to hear that sonnet again, though.”  
“I like listening to you, too. Your voice is lovely.”

There was something left unsaid there, but Aya couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Speaking of fingers, Tae’s snaked closer to hers.

This was a lot more exciting than she’d expected. Too bad she couldn’t gush about it to the others. How did she crush so easily, anyway? It seemed like she’d gotten a crush on everybody in the band party at one point or another, excluding Ako. She hadn’t really thought about Tae much recently, for a number of reasons, but… it was easy enough to start back up again.

In a moment of bravery, she closed the gap, holding Tae’s hand in hers and giving it a light squeeze. Tae lifted their hands, bringing them close to her face. Was she going to kiss her hand??

“Your hands are really pretty, Aya-senpai. Mine are all calloused from guitar, but yours are super soft and nice. Nice skin.”  
“Th-thanks??”  
“Did I do something wrong?”  
“I just… expected something… else..?”  
“Like swinging our hands? That’s a little hard while we’re sitting.”  
“N-nothing…”

Tae lifted her hand even closer before kissing it. Properly flustered now, Aya looked away.

“Ta-Tae-chan!” she exclaimed, barely above a whisper.  
“Yes?”  
“I- well, yo- it’s kinda-”  
“Do you not like it?”  
“N-no! I mean I do like it, but… in front of everyone else?”  
“They’re all asleep, aren’t they?”  
“Y-yeah, but they might wake up…”

Tae’s expression changed. She got closer to Aya to whisper in her ear.

“Do you want to go somewhere else, then?”  
“Eh?”  
“Well you don’t want anything to happen here, do you? We won’t go far, we can still keep watch.”

Aya must’ve been as red as a strawberry by that point, and she knew that Tae knew. She knew that Tae knew that she knew that Tae knew. She nodded.

Tae smiled, got off the rock, and led her by the hand away from camp.

Far enough away (too far away?), they stopped, Tae drawing her into an embrace. Tae had a good 8cm of height on Aya, putting the shorter girl’s face squarely at neck level. She could feel both their heartbeats, Aya’s somewhat faster than Tae’s. She hoped she wouldn't notice… 

“Aya-senpai?”  
“Yes?”  
“Is it alright if I give you a kiss on the forehead?”  
“Eh? Uhhh… mm. Sure, Tae-chan.”

Tae pulled apart a bit, shifted her fringe up with one hand, and kissed her there.

“Was that ok?”  
“Yes…”  
“Can I give you one on the cheek then?”  
“Please…”

Tae did just that, and Aya returned with one of her own. Tae got dangerously close to her lips with the next one, and Aya felt her heart rate spike.

* * *

Here the discord voted to kiss Tae on the lips. The author doesn’t know what they expected, but rarepair rights!

* * *

Aya ‘missed’ a little bit herself, brushing Tae’s lips. With no negative reaction, she followed up with a proper kiss on the mouth. Unsure of herself, she soon pulled away.

“Was that… was that ok?”  
“Mhm!”

Tae’s hand was on her chin, tilting it upwards. She felt like she was in a shoujo manga, and she suspected that this was the case for both of them. They kissed again.

And again.

And again and again and again, and suddenly Aya found herself pinned against a tree, lips locked with Poppin’Party’s lead guitarist. 

“You’re good at this.”  
“Thanks?”  
“Better than Rimi. Maybe it’s a vocalist thing? You and Kasumi are pretty good… Then again, Saya’s also pretty great, so maybe it’s just a people thing.”

Again and again, and then… 

Oh.

She’d lost track of one of Tae’s hands, and now that hand was twisting a knife into her stomach.

“It’s a shame, really… you’re good at this,” Tae mumbled through the still-unbroken kiss.

* * *

The discord voted to try to fight back

* * *

Aya freed herself from Tae’s mouth. She felt like she was about to throw up. 

She drew her own knife, and prepared to strike.

* * *

The discord had another QTE, in which they managed to convince me to have Aya stab to disable. They succeeded.

* * *

She brought the blade up and into the underside of Tae’s upper arm.

“Wait. That’s illegal.”

Tae withdrew her own knife from Aya’s abdomen, causing a fresh tide of blood to seep rhythmically out. That… can’t be good.

She backed off for a moment. Aya grasped at her belly with one hand, holding her weapon shakily out with the other. The tears probably stopped it from being too intimidating, huh?

It occurred to Aya that this was being broadcast. She’d kissed a girl on TV… and gotten stabbed… and she was about to die on TV, too.

Uh oh.

* * *

The discord voted to stall Tae.

* * *

Breathing heavily, Aya waved her knife threateningly at Tae. She was weakened, she knew that, but if she just kept waving it at her then maybe she’d leave her alone?

Tae laughed at her pathetic attempts, letting Aya’s sobs wrack her bleeding body while she flailed wildly. 

Still swinging, she took a step forward, then another, and then something whizzed past her head. There was a thud in the tree behind her, presumably as whatever it was hit.

… Huh?

Tae backed away.

Another object hurtled through the air in her direction, and pain exploded in another spot in Aya’s abdomen.

A knife?

“O-Tae-chan! Need a hand?”

Everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note, because people are getting a little grumpy: not kissing Tae would've had more or less the exact same results, only without the kissing. This was purely for flavour, ok? Don't be mad at people for picking the gay option here.


End file.
